The Lies We Weave Are Oh So Intricate
by A Pen and a Piece of Mind
Summary: An AU story. A kidnapping, a reunion, flying bullets, lies, lies, and more lies. Welcome to Evelyn Shephard's newly discovered life. The title is taken from a Fall Out Boy song. NOW COMPLETE!
1. Remove Me from the Scene

_Trust me, I'm well aware that I do not in any way shape or form own Lost. Now, please, do enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it.  
_

* * *

_**The Lies We Weave Are Oh So Intricate**_

_**Chapter 1**_

_**"Remove Me From The Scene"**_

She loved the view from her bedroom. It overlooked the street her house was located on. She could see the entire neighborhood and nearly every house on the street. The two windows in her bedroom allowed the full view of the neighborhood.

She saw a car drive down the street and pause briefly in front of her house before continuing down the road. It paused so suddenly and drove away much quicker than it had came, she began to wonder if the car was something more than just a car. 'Probably lost.' She thought to herself and it almost reassured her fully, but only almost.

She turned back into her room and looked in the mirror. She messed around with her hair a little before she pulled on the band t-shirt she would wear for the day along with the usual jeans and sneakers. Today's choice was her favorite, "Jack's Mannequin."

"Breakfast!" her mother shouted up the stairs. She took one last look in the mirror just to make sure she looked alright for school.

"Evelyn, you're going to be late!" Kate shouted once again up the stairs. She heard shuffling from the room upstairs and in two minutes Evelyn Austen, her daughter, appeared. Kate greeted Evelyn lightly, "Good morning sunshine."

"Yeah," Evelyn replied sharply. 14-year-old Evelyn Shephard looked like her mother in nearly every way. She had dark, curly, brown hair, freckles, and green eyes. She stood roughly around '4'11' and was still getting taller each and every day. She had filled out, but not all the way, there was still a few more years until she would look like and adult. While Evelyn may have looked like her mother, her personality, however, was exactly like her father's. Evelyn was clueless to this inheritance, but Kate thought she had taken a part of him with her the day she walked away. Kate thought it was almost scary how alike the two were, but Evelyn would never know and had never known.

Kate Austen had her problems in her life. Problems she would never share with anyone and never had, except for one person. Kate smiled and sat down next to Evelyn, who was eating her soggy cereal.

"What?" Evelyn asked as she noticed Kate watching her. Her mother had done that a million times over, and usually Evelyn didn't really mind, but today she did. Maybe she was still a little worked up over the car, even though she didn't really see a reason to be, but she wasn't sure why she was so messed up today.

"Nothing," Kate relinquished the thought of telling Evelyn the truth, just as she had done every morning since Evelyn was old enough to fully understand her mother's present problems and past ones. Evelyn took a pen on the corner of the table and began to twirl it with ease and speed while she finished what was left of the homework she hadn't finished the night before. Her mother sipped her coffee and watched as Evelyn twirled the pen.

Suddenly, out of the silence of a suburban street, the screeching of tires was heard. Evelyn dropped the pen and forgot all about her game. Kate dropped the coffee mug on the kitchen floor, shattering the mug completely with coffee spilling out across the floor. Evelyn stepped over the spill with her shoes on, while her mother did the same. They were both dressed for the day and already had their shoes on. Kate reached the living room window first and saw a car that had been suddenly stopped in front of the house. Kate saw three men dressed in black jump out of the vehicle with guns and masks.

"We need to leave," Kate said suddenly as Evelyn reached the window.

"What happened? It sounded like a car accident, but..." Evelyn was cut off as Kate grabbed her arm and ran out the back door. Evelyn jumped as the sound of guns firing met her ears. The source of the sound being their house that they had just been sitting in. Kate led her daughter quietly around the house to the assassins' car. Evelyn slid into the passenger seat while Kate slid into the driver's seat. Kate found the keys still in the ignition as she knew she would. She shut the door catching the attention of the silent shooters who had stopped shooting. They turned around and Kate drove away quickly.

"Get down," Kate said quickly and Evelyn ducked on the floor in the back seat. Bullets flew at them and Evelyn heard a few hit the glass in the back window. Kate sped up and reached the highway in a matter of minutes. After they reached the highway, Kate told Evelyn it was alright to sit in the front again. Evelyn looked back and saw the indents in the back window where the bullets had hit. They hadn't broken through and she was thankful for that.

"Who were those people?" Evelyn asked after she had taken a few deep breaths.

"I don't know," Kate lied smoothly, though, she had a small amount of instinct that told her Evelyn didn't believe her. Evelyn said nothing after the answer had been said.

Kate drove the car quietly and by the time it was noon, Kate decided to leave the highway and take the back roads to get to the final destination. As the car pulled into the intersection, it was hit on the driver's side by an unknown vehicle.

The world went dark for Kate, but not for Evelyn.

Evelyn shut her eyes as the initial impact happened. The car flipped once or twice but returned to right side up by the time it finished. What was once a shining black finish was now a mangled piece of metal. Evelyn opened her eyes but didn't look at her mother, she was too afraid to see a dead body next to her. She tried to open the passenger's door but it was sealed shut thanks to the crash. She knew she needed to get help so she decided to climb out the shattered windshield.

Evelyn was virtually unscathed from the crash, save for a few minor scratches from the broken glass. She also left the car with a few bruises to her sides and arms, but that was to be expected considering the amount of shaking and rolling she had endured. It was surprising her injuries weren't severe but Evelyn was thankful she could help; she always wanted to help.

As she took a deep breath to try and calm herself down she saw the SUV that had hit them. It was black, the same finish as the car they had been driving. Evelyn saw the doors open and two men in business suits step out. They were wearing black masks, the same as the ones who had initially attacked Evelyn and her mother. Evelyn listened to her instincts and tried to run, but she was chased after and grabbed before she could get anywhere.

She screamed and she fought against them but they overpowered her. The man holding her kept a tight grip on her as if he had done this before. The other man, who seemed equally experienced, handcuffed Evelyn's hands without any problems of his own. This was especially interesting considering the amount of fighting and thrashing Evelyn was doing. The same man who had handcuffed her, shoved a piece of cloth in her mouth. He tied the cloth around her head causing a stirring silence to overcome the deserted intersection.

Evelyn was carried towards the SUV and then shoved in the backseat of the vehicle. There was gate-like barrier between the backseat and the front seats. It reminded Evelyn of a police car only she knew this was no police car. One of the men tied up her legs with plastic wire and slammed the car door shut. She was trapped now, no way to move or get out. Her hands were behind her back so there was no way for her to even free her mouth to get rid of the taste of the cloth.

One of the men entered the driver's side and started the car. His partner called 911 and then sat in the passenger's seat. He nodded to the driver and the driver started the car. They drove away quickly as Evelyn heard sirens approaching. Her mother would be alright, or at least Evelyn hoped she would be. There was no way to know for sure and there was no way she was going to get away now, not with the SUV barreling down the back roads of a place Evelyn had never been to.

A few hours later in a hospital Kate awoke.The sun was setting and Kate's heart began to pound. 'Where was Evelyn?' It was the only question running through her mind. That question and the latter, 'Had they gotten to her?'

A nurse walked in and turned off some of the machines. She removed some of the wires from Kate, who still hadn't regained her voice.

The nurse finally spoke to Kate directly, "Dr. Shephard will be here in a minute." The nurse walked away and Kate panicked more.

Jack. He was here. At the hospital where she was. She couldn't see him. She made a promise. She had to leave. No more blood would be spilled on her account. She pulled the rest of wires off and pulled out her IV. She dressed herself quickly out of the hospital robe and into her own clothes. She managed to slip on her shoes and leave the room before Jack walked in. She saw him walk into the room with the door she had shut once again and then she saw him leave, disappointed but smirking. He knew her too well.

After the brief encounter and glimpse at the love she left behind, Kate noticed her injuries for the first time while she left the hospital. Her wrist was sprained and there were cuts and scratches on her arms and above her eyebrow, which was covered with a butterfly bandage. She walked for a few minutes before realizing there was nowhere to go, no way to find Evelyn, at least none that wouldn't require any money. Kate had an idea at who had taken her, just no way to find him and his new location. The same location where Evelyn would be kept until Kate found her.

The SUV drove for hours before the sky began to darken. Once it did, the two men removed their masks. They were two people she didn't recognize, not that she thought she would. The driver had a wide stare and a scar on his lip where it looked as if he had been punched several times. There were a few small scars on his cheek as well. His hair was short just like his height, but he still managed to scare Evelyn. If his look wasn't frightening enough, he talked in a steady voice that frightened Evelyn to the core.

The passenger was a heavier set man, though he still had muscle. His hair was thinning and short as well. He was intimidating but not as frightening as the driver. This man talked a lot and liked the fact that he scared Evelyn and knew what was going on. The other man, the driver, tried to be her friend which in this case was worse than trying to scare her.

"Ben, do you think the kid knows what's going on?" The passenger asked.

"I don't think she should know until we get to our final destination, Tom," Ben answered Tom's question. Now Evelyn had their names and appearance. If she escaped she could describe them perfectly to her mother who most likely knew them both.

"Evelyn, I'm sorry that we needed to tie you up, but you need to understand it's the only way we can take you to where you need to be," Ben addressed her in the steady, nasal voice she hated. She met his blue eyed stare with an icy green one of her own. She leaned back on the seat and kicked the bars a few times to try and get out.

"Knock it off!" Tom shouted at Evelyn, but she kept on kicking. He repeated the phrase again, "I said knock it off!"

She kicked even harder this time, giving herself false hope that maybe she could get free. Tom pulled a gun out from his holster and pointed it straight at her. "I said, stop it, Austen!"

Evelyn froze in her place and sat back up in the seat. Her eyes were wide and focused completely on the gun facing her head. Even if Tom had used the wrong last name, who was she to correct him at this moment in time. If he knew her mother, of course he would assume. He probably had no idea who her father was, but she didn't really care. All she cared about was doing her best to avoid being mutilated by Tom and the gun that was aimed straight at her head.

"Tom, don't let your temper get the best of you," Ben advised and Tom pulled the gun away but not before he muttered, "The kid's a chicken shit." This angered Evelyn more than the actual kidnapping. She was no chicken shit and she would never let him call her that. He would pay the minute she got her chance and that was a promise she made to herself and to him.

The SUV drove on with silence pressing in on the car. Evelyn breathed a little easier knowing she wasn't going to be shot, at least not when she had no chance in the world.

"Do you like music, Evelyn?" Ben asked her in the same calm voice.

Evelyn said nothing, she only stared at him in a mixture of hate and confusion. He turned on the radio to a song she recognized but didn't care to listen to at the moment. Ben continued to talk while Tom stayed quiet with a smile on his face, he enjoyed this.

"I want you to tell me about your parents?" Ben said steadily while the music played.

Evelyn mumbled something incoherent as an answer.

"I'm sorry?" Ben asked and Tom reached through the bars and pulled off the cloth gag. Evelyn coughed for a second then asked her question.

"And if I don't?" Evelyn asked with a strength she didn't know she had.

"Then you don't get to pick the radio station."

All she did was glare at him while the sun set and the car drove on.

_Let's call this the quiet city:   
Where screams are flet as a wave of stoplights  
Drive through the the streets as gunshots punctuate the night - Cross Out The Eyes by Thursday  
_

* * *

_  
This story is to be continued...  
_


	2. The Saints are Writing Down My Sins

**_Chapter Two_**

**_"The Saints are Writing Down My Sins"_**

Kate walked down the parking lot looking for a familiar car she had been in so many times before. She found it and thanked God that Jack still drove the same car. She pulled the latch of the back seat and to her utmost surprise, it was unlocked. She sat inside and waited for his shift to end.

She hadn't planned on talking to him ever again, but plans change. After all, she hadn't planned on Evelyn getting kidnapped either. It was finally time to face the music, or in this case, the good doctor Shephard.

The car drove for miles and miles while hour after hour passed. Evelyn was terrified of falling asleep; she wasn't so sure she would be entirely safe if she did, but then again she wasn't in an all too safe situation to begin with. She thought over various escape routes, but it was dark now and she wasn't so sure she wanted to go through with any of them. She might end up facing something far far worse than this.

The radio hadn't been turned on since Ben had started to question her in his own polite way. It was interesting how he could seem sincere and condescending in his voice and manner. He was a contradictory person who tried to be your friend while questioning you as if you had broken the law or committed a vicious and barbaric crime.

Evelyn hadn't said one word to him and had downright ignored him completely during the time he questioned her. He got frustrated, as most people would be, and told his friend Tom, while he was somehow addressing her in his own Ben-like way, Juliet would handle her.

Juliet. Evelyn wouldn't give her any information either. There wasn't really a difference in who she was talking to or how they handled themselves. She had no idea what was going on and she wasn't going to tell them anything even if she did have the answer to what they asked.

It took nearly two and a half hours for Jack's shift to end and for him to walk back to his car. It took him a second to find Kate lying fast asleep in the back seat. He smiled and remembered nights where he would just watch her sleep for hours. She was so different while she slept. You would never know the dark past she held while she slumbered peacefully.

Jack started the car and in the instant the car sprang to life, Kate was awake. She saw him staring at her and all she did was sigh and sit back in the seat.

"How have you been?" Jack asked, shutting off the car and standing outside. Kate left the backseat and stood in front of him.

"Jack, they took her," Kate told him, wasting no time. With those four words, Jack knew the worst had happened.

Evelyn did end up falling asleep in the car. In doing so, she lost a good two hours of questioning and the insults that were sure to fly out of Tom's mouth. Evelyn dreamed of a conversation she had with her mother four years ago.

_It was late, nearly midnight when Evelyn strayed into her mother's bedroom. She had heard her mother's sobs coming down the hallway into her own bedroom and she needed to see if her mother would be alright. So Evelyn walked the hallway and climbed onto the bed where her mother had tried to stifle her cries._

_"Mommy, are you okay?" Evelyn asked laying down next to her. Her mother turned to face her, the last of her tears disappearing._

_"Yeah, I'm fine. How are you doing, little girl?" Kate covered and Evelyn moved on._

_"I had a bad dream," Evelyn shared in the small scared voice that often accompanies small children when they discuss something frightening._

_"What happened?" Kate had always held the policy that talking about nightmares made them better. It made them easier to handle if they ever came back._

_"I couldn't help them," Evelyn said quietly and Kate knew exactly what was troubling her daughter. All her life, Evelyn had talked about becoming a doctor when she grew up and every so often she would have a nightmare where she couldn't save a patient and they died. It was a fear that Kate knew all too well how to handle._

_"When that happens, you just count to five and it gets better. I promise."_

Those were the words that rang through Evelyn's head now as she was shaken awake. While she was struggling with Tom as he tried to bind and gag her once again, she remembered to count and when she lost the fight she had to count again.

**One...**

She was carried out of the car and into an abandoned warehouse. Once inside, Tom slammed the entrance shut and Ben made sure Evelyn was sitting in the metal chair located in the center of the room. He untied her hands and wrapped them behind the chair, he secured them with handcuffs and he made sure they were tight. He left the gag in her mouth and walked away from her.

**...two...**

Evelyn heard Ben leave and she was left alone with Tom. Another man entered the room, Tom greeted him with the name "Ethan." Evelyn shut her eyes as she choked on the cloth material in her mouth.

**...three...**

Footsteps announced Ben's arrival and more footsteps signaled somebody else's appearance. Evelyn opened her eyes as she saw a blond woman walk towards her and stand in front of the chair. The small light from the warehouse allowed Evelyn to see the outlines of boxes and the people standing in the dimly lit room.

**...four...**

"Hello Evelyn, I'm Juliet."

With that introduction, Evelyn's heart pounded and the fear became unbearable.

**...five.**

"I'd like to ask you a couple of questions," Juliet said kindly, pulling a chair in front of Evelyn. She signaled to Tom, who took off Evelyn's gag. She coughed for a few seconds before she addressed Juliet.

"And why should I answer them? You kidnap me, almost kill my mother, bound me to a chair, and now you want to talk to me! I'm not telling you shit." Evelyn smiled with her statement, happily silent.

"Well, that was certainly a nice speech. However, if you don't answer my questions, you should know that we won't hesitate to kill your father," Juliet stated easily as if she had said it a thousand times before.

Evelyn felt the fear again, but she refused to count to five. She had never met her father and she didn't know whether or not they were lying. He could have been a dead beat, someone who knew about her but didn't care and maybe he deserved to die, but she didn't know for sure and she couldn't risk his life.

"I'll tell you everything," Evelyn said monotonously.

"Good," Juliet said with a smile. Ben, Tom, and Ethan left the warehouse, leaving Evelyn alone with Juliet.

Evelyn looked around the warehouse and noticed the blinking light that was a camera focused right where the chair was. She knew somebody was watching, she just didn't know who and for what reason. All of her suspicions pointed to the person who may have been watching her father, ready to kill him if she didn't comply.

She felt like throwing up when Juliet asked the first question. It was a simple question and normally she wouldn't have had a problem answering it, but she felt like a trader when she told _her_.

"What's your full name?" Juliet waited for the response.

"Evelyn Diane Shephard," She answered quietly, her eyes on the floor.

"You're mother's name is Austen?" Juliet was intrigued by Evelyn's previous answer and that was when Evelyn knew she had just betrayed her family. She knew that they didn't have her father and that she had just told them who he was. They knew him, even if she didn't.

"You lying bitch," Evelyn felt the words drip like acid from her tongue. Her stomach churned and she swallowed the bile in her throat.

"Thank you Evelyn. We'll talk again very soon." Juliet stood and walked away while Evelyn felt the tears fall from her eyes.

Juliet must have called them, because Ethan and Tom came in to lead Evelyn to her prison. They unlocked her hands and put her in one of the storage rooms in the warehouse. They relocked the handcuffs so she could use her hands. They left her some dry cereal and water, then slammed the door shut and locked it.

Evelyn couldn't move, she could barely breathe, she didn't know what to do. She stared at the floor and felt her eyes shut as she fell asleep against the wall. The blinking light on the wall indicated there was another security camera located in that room as well, but Evelyn never saw it.

Juliet walked into the room where a man sat watching the television sets getting the feeds from the cameras around the warehouse.

"Good work," The man hidden in shadow told Juliet.

"Thank you, James." He turned around with a smirk on his face.

"It's Sawyer, but I'll forgive you. Anyway, it looks like Saint Jack's going to have a hell of a time meeting his daughter," Sawyer said happily, laughing every so often.

"Do you want me to send Ethan and Goodwin to get him?" Juliet asked watching the television where she saw Evelyn against the wall, asleep.

"Yeah, we need to make sure Katie didn't get to him yet. And if she did, well then they should kill her and take him," Sawyer ordered and Juliet nodded in agreement. She had known Kate before, when Kate worked for Sawyer, but after she disappeared Kate had become a hit on everyone's list and they all wanted to get her. They all wanted to be the one's to tell Sawyer they had killed the only person to betray him for love. It didn't hurt that there was a big payoff if and when they got the job done.

"And what should I do with her?" Juliet asked indicating Evelyn.

"Make her tell you everything," Sawyer answered, the ruthlessness in his voice bone chilling.

Evelyn opened her eyes to the darkness, her eyes still void of any emotion. She felt dead and thought she might as well have been dead. She stared at the floor and hoped she would find a way out of this situation.

_ Feel your heart, it breaks within your chest now  
Try to get some rest now,  
Sleep's not coming easy for a while, child -"Down" - Something Corporate_

* * *

_...to be continued..._


	3. Poison Blood, Poison Love

**_Chapter 3  
_**

**_Poison Blood, Poison Love  
_**

Darkness. It was all she saw and all she felt. She felt calloused, diseased, dead. There was no happiness anymore. No light to greet her, no smile to make a nightmare go away, she was all alone. Evelyn Shephard was trapped and there was no way out.

The claustrophobia was setting in and Evelyn couldn't stand to keep her eyes open for more than a minute. She had only been in the small, windowless cell for a few hours, but even then it was enough for paranoia to begin.

She felt like crying but she was too frozen in time to manage it. All she knew how to do was breathe. Inhaling and exhaling were the only thoughts that passed through her mind as time went on. There were no thoughts of the outside world. No thoughts of her mother or her father. All she remembered was the minute before and the time in solitude. In some ways, she began to understand a prisoner confined to their cell. Even if they were a serial killer, she understood the pain that came with solitary confinement.

The metal door scraped open across the floor and Evelyn barely registered the light that crept into the dark room. She was grabbed and pulled up so she was standing. She was lead out of the room and into an illuminated hallway. She had to shut her eyes from the light as they slowly adjusted. She didn't fight, all she did was follow. She was so cold and something in the back of her mind made her think she would never feel anything but cold.

Jack and Kate drove to a motel before they decided they would visit the crash site. Jack needed sleep and so did Kate, but they both knew they wouldn't sleep at all.

There was only one bed and they slept next to each other. Kate's back was to him as she felt the tears settle in and fall quietly. Jack thought back to all the times he used to help her deal with the past and all the times he helped her stop crying. He wanted to help her now, but he knew it wasn't the right time. They were still both too stubborn to remember what they had and repeat it.

Jack remembered what had lead to all of this. He knew she was pregnant and it was roughly one month into the first trimester when she disappeared. He wasn't sure why, he thought she was done with her past and done with working for Sawyer. Sawyer, the man who made Jack's heart burn with hate. The only person who ever made Jack's blood run cold. Kate's former employer.

"It's going to be alright, Katie," Jack whispered to her and he heard the loud, heart shattering sob as a reply. He placed a hand to her back and rubbed it gently to try and calm her down. She turned around and gripped onto his shirt and pulled herself closer. She cried for close to an hour before shutting her eyes. Jack took a deep breath and shut his but never really sank into a deep sleep. He considered it more a light nap.

By the time morning hit, they were both out the door and driving to the site where Evelyn was kidnapped.

Kate stepped out of the car, sunglasses on and a silhouette of her former self. She was angry and she knew who had taken her daughter, there was no doubt in her mind. She had seen the car speed off and the skid marks in the road were all that was left of that evidence.

"What do we do now?" Jack asked, standing by the car.

Kate looked at the tracks and turned around to face Jack. Her response was quick and clear, there was no other choice when she said her words, "We go after them."

Evelyn was lead into a room with a table and two chairs. There was a light hanging overhead with a fan spinning and a window overlooking the desert. She was sat into a chair with her hands handcuffed in front of her. It seemed futile at first, until they cuffed each ankle to a leg of the chair. Again, she related to another nameless and faceless prisoner who had been in a similar situation.

The two people she hadn't bothered to look at left the room. She heard a click and realized she was locked inside. She looked up and saw another blinking light to a security camera. The light had done something for her, she had started to think again.

Footsteps began to come closer and closer to the door and Evelyn waited. This time, there was no fear and no counting. She knew she couldn't find a way out of this. She needed a miracle and by the looks of things, that wasn't coming any time soon.

The door clicked and opened revealing Juliet carrying a tray. The door was shut behind her by Tom and Evelyn figured he must have been the one guarding the door.

Juliet placed the tray in front of Evelyn. On it, there was a sandwich made from various lunch meats and a cup of water. Juliet sat across from Evelyn and smiled. Evelyn was hungry, but she didn't reach for the sandwich and she didn't return the smile Juliet had given her.

"You have to eat something, Evelyn," Juliet said, her voice neither hinting concern nor disdain for the girl in front of her. Evelyn had to admit, she was flawless at what she did. Evelyn again, made no sound or movement in response.

"Evelyn, we need you for a little while so you need to eat something. There's nothing in the food but food, trust me," Juliet said using the same even voice. She was trying to be nicer than she had been the night before and while it was false, Evelyn actually appreciated the kindness.

Her stomach growled and Evelyn couldn't deny the hunger anymore. She reached for the sandwich while the chain from the handcuffs rattled as she moved her hands. She took a bite and didn't detect anything out of the ordinary, so she continued to eat it.

"That's a good girl. While you finish that, I'd like to show you something." Juliet stood from her chair and walked over to the door. She knocked and Tom handed her a folder. She shut the door again and walked back to her chair. She sat back down and sifted through the folder.

"This has everything about your mother. Everything she's done in her life up to about fourteen years ago. So, right now, and believe me this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I'm giving you the chance to find out anything you would like to know." Juliet placed the folder on the table, right in between Evelyn and herself.

The offer was tempting, even if the circumstances were completely wrong. Juliet watched as Evelyn began to seriously contemplate the offer. It was a double edged sword. Evelyn would know the truth, but after the truth there was no going back. There was no way to simply forget the information she could stumble on. It wasn't just an invasion of privacy by peering into a life that was obviously not meant for Evelyn. It was a line that one could either cross or stand behind. It was the dotted line marked in the sand that would only end up being erased for all the wrong reasons. Evelyn could cross it now, or she could wait for it to be erased and for all the information to be laid before her in a way she had no control over.

Evelyn stared at the folder in front of her. She was bound to the chair, but she could easily reach over and take the folder. It was a simple task, all she had to do was reach and open it. The information was right there, ready for her to read. The folder was filled with a packet and Evelyn couldn't even imagine what the packet held or what other papers were inside.

_"At some point, you have to make a decision. Boundaries don't keep other people out. They fence you in."_

The light tan color of the folder shone brightly against the cold grey of the table. The yellow tab located at the top of the folder was easy to read. Austen, was all it said. Evelyn wasn't sure why she was examining the folder, but somehow it eased the growing decision crossing Evelyn's mind.

"Evelyn, I understand this is a difficult decision, but you need to understand the offer expires in the next four minutes and twenty three seconds," Juliet stated as she looked at her watch.

She had been counting the entire time Evelyn had been sitting there. This only added to the tension building in Evelyn's stomach.

Four minutes and thirteen seconds later, Evelyn was still thinking.

_"Life is messy. That's how we're made. So, you can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them."_

"Ten seconds," Juliet began to count backwards and Evelyn felt her heart pounding. She was torn, even after she thought about the price she would pay for either decision.

"Nine. Eight," Juliet counted but Evelyn didn't hear her. Evelyn counted her way to five and by the time Juliet reached two, Evelyn had a decision.

"Stop! What's in the folder?" Evelyn asked feeling the shattering calm that comes with a heavy decision. The hush before battle, the whisper before the scream, Evelyn never knew how destructive the silence could be; until now.

_"But there are some lines... that are way too dangerous to cross."_

Jack and Kate drove to a gas station a few miles away from the crash site. They walked over to a pay phone after parking the car. Kate dialed a number Jack had never used, though, he did provide the change for the phone.

Kate waited for the familiar answering voice on the other line of the phone. It rang four times before Kate thought about hanging up. She was just about to remove the phone from her ear when a tired 'hello' met her ears.

"Charlie," Kate whispered into the mouth piece.

"Kate! You weren't supposed to call anymore," Charlie said worried. He had been the one to help her disappear with Evelyn. He worked the same business as she did, but he never went out and killed anyone. All he had really done was make the weapons they used. That, and sell some drugs to pay for the technology he needed. His partner in crime, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes. Charlie married Claire a long time ago and together they had a son named Aaron, only a select few new about this. Charlie didn't want to have to disappear like Kate had, so he kept his personal life a secret.

It was easier for him to have a normal life. He didn't have to go out and take out targets. Most of the time he made business transactions over the phone or on the computer. Both he and Hurley were separated from the world of violence with no way out. Claire knew all about Charlie's job and she never said anything about it. She had helped Kate out a lot with Evelyn but after a year of secret meetings and sporadic phone calls, they had to stop talking. Aaron would be close if not exactly Evelyn's age by now.

"I know and I'm sorry, but Charlie I don't know what else to do. I need help." Jack walked closer to Kate and stood closely by her as a car pulled up to the gas station. A small family got out of the car, but Jack remained close to Kate. He wanted to make sure nothing would happen.

"What happened?" Charlie asked as he shuffled around his messed up office. He opened a lap top hidden under piles of papers. Hurley's desk was across the room, but he wasn't sitting in it at the moment. It was really just Charlie's garage, but they liked to call it their office. Charlie switched the phone from his hand to speaker and waited.

"Somehow, they found us and he sent people gunning for the house. We got out, but they crashed into us at an intersection and they took her," Kate was on the verge of tears with the statement she gave to Charlie. Hurley's eyes widened at her voice as he had walked in the minute Charlie was shuffling around.

"Alright, where exactly was the intersection?" Charlie quickly tapped at keys on the keyboard and soon enough a map of the United States flashed onto the screen.

"Somewhere in Nevada. We were headed towards Las Vegas, but I decided to take back roads," Kate whispered her hand on top of the box where she had dialed the number.

"Hang on a second." Charlie punched a few more keys and waited for the report he needed. He pressed more keys and soon he was in the police files for the mysterious accident. He found the location and hacked into a satellite feed.

"Charlie, the phone's going to run out soon," Kate said quickly.

"Sorry, head to the airport in Las Vegas, there'll be a ticket and a passport waiting for you. Take the next flight to London, and you'll find a car with the last name on your passport. The driver will take you to a restaurant with a bunch of apartments surrounding it and I'll find you there," Charlie told her quickly.

"Jack's with me," Kate said and again Hurley's eyes widened at the mention of their old friend.

"Then make those instructions plural where they need to be and I'll see you when you get here," Charlie hung up the phone and Kate hung up the phone on her end.

"Come on." Kate ran towards the car with Jack close in tow. She stopped quickly when she saw two men checking out the car. They looked around but they didn't notice Kate or Jack standing close to the dumpster near the gas station.

"We need to get out of here," Jack said quickly, but Kate shook her head.

"That's our only way out. We need a plan 'B'." Jack and Kate walked back towards the phone booth and Kate ripped off the phone from the chord.

"I was going to say we could call Charlie but you ruined that plan." Jack rushed after her quickly moving silhouette. They walked inside the gas station and Jack walked down the aisle towards the water.

Kate approached the cashier and began talking to him.

"I was just wondering if you had a phone in the back or something, because the one outside seems broken." It was then that Kate put the phone and chord on the counter.

"Near the bathrooms," The cashier was quick to answer and Kate smiled. She didn't have to say anything for Jack to follow her and soon she was on the phone with Charlie again.

"There's a bus station down the street. If you run you can catch the next bus to Las Vegas. It leaves in, ten minutes."

Kate hung up the phone instantly and ran with Jack out the gas station. She looked for the men by the car and noticed they were still there. One of the men was smoking a cigarette while the other talked on a cell phone. Kate grabbed Jack's arm and led him around the back of the gas station and away from the men. They ran for their lives while racing towards the bus station. Kate only hoped Charlie had followed through again and granted them tickets for the bus.

Charlie rushed around his office, making arrangements for the plane. Hurley typed quickly as he was working the bus tickets. The same names weren't used, and different identities were made for the bus tickets and plane tickets. The passports were the same as the plane tickets and all Charlie needed were recent pictures of Jack and Kate. It wasn't too difficult to find a recent one of Jack. The miracle doctor had been in the papers a lot lately, but that was only in Los Angeles and Charlie thanked God that he wasn't a national sensation. That would have been hard to explain to the ticket agent. Charlie simply needed to manipulate the picture to suit the passport. However, had almost no pictures of Kate. The only ones he did have had been used for her passport fourteen years ago. He hoped the picture would pass.

Jack and Kate reached the station with two minutes to spare. They were bumped into and Kate found two fresh tickets to Las Vegas in her hands. Jack smiled, as they made it to the bus on time. They found their seats and took several deep breaths as the bus hurled into motion.

"They made it to the bus," Hurley told Charlie, confirming the ticket pass.

"Thank God," Charlie breathed a little easier.

"Dude, we're in some deep shit," Hurley said as he sat in his chair. Charlie nodded as he began typing again.

Juliet pulled the folder towards herself and opened it. She pulled out a few pages and stared at the front page.

"What do you want to know?" Juliet asked as she scanned the paper in her hand.

"Everything I need to know," Evelyn answered in a cracked voice barely above a whisper.

"She was born in Iowa. Her mother worked at a diner before she died and she killed her biological father, you're grandfather." Juliet glanced at Evelyn as she read the paper like it was a book report. Evelyn looked down at the ground, taking in the information as it was given. Juliet had to admit, the teenager had a decent shot at making it in their business. However, she thought about the possible competition and darkly thought about stopping the potential threat right then and there. She didn't because there was a sick satisfaction in the betrayal she was revealing now.

Evelyn felt a tear fall down her cheek as Juliet shuffled another paper and began to read once again.

"She was nineteen when she killed Wayne and that was right around the same time Sawyer began his business, he was about twenty six. She joined us and started jetting around the world and killing a lot of people. Of course, it was only the people she was hired to kill, but she was good. She probably still is, but we won't know until she gets here will we?" Juliet was enjoying this new form of torture, it was clear.

Evelyn felt more tears fall as the web of lies was unraveled piece by piece.

"I'm not going to bore you with details about her assignments, but I will tell you about one. When she was twenty one, so this would be two years after she became a cold blooded killer, she was hired to kill this intern. Jack Shephard." Juliet waited for the reaction that should have come from Evelyn at the mention of her surname.

Evelyn's head shot up, and the water in her eyes from the tears that would keep falling mixed with a blind rage that was evident in her eyes. Juliet had seen the same look only once before. It was the same look Kate had given her when she had told her she was going to kill Jack herself. That confrontation landed Juliet, and several others, in the hospital and Kate on the run. They never tried to harm Jack again, not after what Kate had done to each one of them.

Juliet felt a chill run down her spine, but she didn't let Evelyn see it. Instead she continued with the story, and if she needed to, she would manipulate it to make Kate the bad person. Though, it actually wasn't that difficult as the story already made her that way.

"Why did somebody want him dead?" Evelyn asked, her voice cold and filled with hatred.

"He was dating someone he shouldn't have been dating. Go figure." Juliet's cold words allowed Evelyn a small insight into the motive of her kidnappers. Her mother had been dating her father, despite the obvious repercussions that were sure to come with it and the repercussions had come.

"What happened after she knew she had to kill him?" Evelyn asked, her voice still void of any feeling, rage or betrayal.

"She didn't, obviously. She told him everything about herself and somewhere along the line, you came into the picture. I'm sure it was unintentional too, but whether or not he knew before she ran is anyone's guess. Anyway, she came back before she ran and told us she was leaving. We tried to stop her, but I guess we didn't think we would be fighting her that night. She ran away and no one saw her since then. That's why it was such a shock to learn that Evelyn Shephard and her mother Kate Austen were living in Nevada where you could literally drive a half an hour to see your father." Juliet smirked as she shoved the papers in the folder.

"How did you know where to find us?" Evelyn asked, never taking her eyes off of Juliet.

"I think your mother just got lazy after ten years of running, so for four years, you both stayed in the same place and from there it wasn't too hard to find you, even if it was accidental," Juliet shared quietly in the same even tone. At those words, the sporadic moving across the country made sense. There was a nagging feeling at the back of her mind and Evelyn voiced her question quickly.

"What do you mean accidental?"

Juliet smiled, "Don't you remember bumping into me while you were waiting in line at the movie theater with your friends?"

The atom bomb fell and Evelyn remembered. She knew the woman she had ran into had stared at her afterwards. Evelyn knew the creeping feeling hadn't been anything less than that; a feeling. Evelyn felt all that was left of her shatter and she felt the concrete silence press into her again.

"Why now?" Evelyn asked her voice broken along with her hope.

"Because it was easy, and he wanted you. Besides, Kate was stupid to think she could get out," Juliet stated with a small sigh.

"How did you know we were still there?" Evelyn wanted all the information and she was going to get it.

"Do you remember that substitute for English?" Juliet leaned in as if she was sharing some dark secret.

Evelyn remembered the man with the beard who kept looking at her and jotting down notes. Evelyn thought it was weird, but tried to push it to the back of her mind. She thought the notes weren't about her, but she was wrong.

"Here's an interesting piece of information. Your mother worked a lot of unpleasant jobs to make sure you could go to a nice school while you two were living in the city." Juliet enjoyed this part, this was the icing on the cake despite the emotional tragedy the teenager was suffering.

"What?" Evelyn was utterly destroyed and anyone could hear it in her voice.

"Bartender and stripper, I'm just saying it's interesting that you two managed to live in a two bedroom apartment while you went to a top elementary school. They even had uniforms," Juliet told Evelyn in the same even voice. She was determined to break Evelyn and get any and all information about her life.

Evelyn felt the world spin and she felt the water spill over her eyes. She was going to be sick and it wasn't until she started freaking out that Juliet did anything.

"Are you going to be sick?" Juliet asked quickly and with sympathy as well. Despite the fact that she was down right cold at times, she had been friends with Kate and felt compassion for the younger counterpart.

Juliet quickly cut the binds on Evelyn's feet and led her quickly towards the bathroom. Evelyn wasn't walking calmly down the hall and she slammed the door open to the bathroom, Juliet unlocked the handcuffs and watched as Evelyn pulled her own hair back and vomited into the toilet without any hesitation. During the night, Evelyn had taken out the hair tie and had quickly put it back in as she coughed up more bile.

Evelyn fell to the floor and cried while she leaned against the cold wall of the bathroom. Juliet stood by the closed door in the bathroom and watched the emotional breakdown of her ex-friend's child. Juliet felt a sharp tug on her heartstrings and for a split second thought about comforting Evelyn. It was the bathroom after all, and there were no cameras in there.

"Evelyn, you have to learn to deal with the pain. It hurts right now, but it'll get easier. You just have to keep moving and try not to remember the disgusting feeling in the pit of your stomach." She was speaking from experience in betrayal now and Evelyn looked up to see the only form of sincerity she had ever seen in Juliet's eyes. At least in the short time Evelyn had been in the warehouse.

Juliet had never told anyone her story. The story of how Sawyer had betrayed her for a woman who would never love him back and never had. Ben had been the one to help her pick up the pieces of herself after she had been used over and over again by Sawyer for meaningless information on Kate and that was how he had unintentionally learned about Jack. That was Juliet's mistake and she had blamed herself, but moved past it because this was how her life was and she couldn't change it. She was a killer and there was nothing she could do about it. There was no other job in the world she could have, because it would be wrong and she hated being wrong more than she hated Sawyer.

Evelyn wiped her eyes and stood, shakily, against the wall. She walked forward and waited for the cuffs to be placed back on her wrists. They were and she was led down the hallway to a room with a bunk bed and a barred window. She stepped inside and Juliet shut the door. Evelyn heard the click of a lock and looked around the room.

Evelyn looked at the bunk bed and noticed that only the top one was made. The bottom bunk was just a mattress with clothing on top of it. There were various t-shirts and jeans, all in Evelyn's size. She looked for a camera and found a blinking light at the top corner of the ceiling. Evelyn sighed and found a walk in closet, she could change in there if she needed to. She walked around the small room and found a picture of her mother and her grandmother standing on an end table at the edge of the bed. Evelyn put the frame down carefully and climbed up to the top bunk.

She felt the tears fall again and she pulled the covers over her body. The window wasn't open, but Evelyn felt cold. She traced patterns on the wall as she tried to fall asleep. The sun had set a while before she had her emotional breakdown and she didn't know how late it was. Juliet had placed some soup on a tray an hour after Evelyn had entered her new cell, but she wasn't hungry and Juliet took it away. She hadn't pressed Evelyn for food, as if she understood the teenager's actions.

Evelyn traced a diamond shape and hit a crack in the wall. She felt the cool brick of the wall shift under the weight of her hand as she traced the same shape. Evelyn pushed against the brick and to her surprise it eased open, almost like a small door. She sat up and pulled the brick off the wall and found a folded piece of paper inside.

She pulled out the folded paper and opened it. It was creased from the fold but Evelyn could still see the picture. The moonlight helped in the task as Evelyn saw the smiling face of her mother and the smiling face of a man that could only be her father. They had the same smile, her and her father. There was no mistaking it. Evelyn pushed the brick back into place and laid the picture on the mattress beside the pillow. Evelyn stared at the picture and she didn't feel any anger or hatred towards the people in the portrait. She felt her eyes grow heavy and the insomnia cease as she fell asleep, dreaming of a life far different than the one she was dealt.

_ Somehow I feel that it's my destiny to fall  
Get dried and hung up on a gallery wall  
Holding on  
By just a thread to my heart ("Scream" - Kill Hannah) _

* * *

_The quote was from Grey's Anatomy._

_...to be continued...  
_


	4. The Silence Screams

**_Chapter 4_**

**_The Silence Screams_**

The flight left from Las Vegas roughly an hour after Jack and Kate arrived in the city on their bus. The flight would take a few hours, but neither one cared. They barely said a word to each other. They were both too scared that someone who shouldn't be there would be listening in. Kate leaned her head against the window and watched the clouds pass. She felt a tear fall as the darkness settled inside of her.

Evelyn woke up to a dark room with only one sliver of light coming from the outside world. She shifted on the bunk bed and heard the squeak of the bed frame. She dropped down onto the floor and looked out the barred window. The moon shone brightly through the dark, cloudless sky. Stars also littered the darkness and Evelyn quietly traced shapes of things she had seen and read about. She pulled the end table over to the window and stood on top of it. She could see the ground clearly due to the fact the lights of the building illuminated a minor area around the building. She could jump to the ground if she wanted as she was about a foot above it.

She pulled on the bar just to see if it would move, it wouldn't. Despite the minor amount of rust, there was no decay to the metal and it wouldn't make a sound to indicate any movement.

Evelyn cast her eyes to the ground. Her situation was hopeless and she knew it for sure now. This wasn't how life was supposed to be. It wasn't supposed to be this hard or this emotionally shattering. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Evelyn sat on the floor and felt her tears and her own distress take over her. She cried for what felt like hours before she laid down on the floor with her eyes open and stared at the ground she was laying on. She gave up and now all she had was her own silence and the darkness surrounding her.

By the time light shed entirely over the room, the door opened and Evelyn was still on the ground. Her eyes were bloodshot and it was clear she was broken. Tom pulled her up from the ground and handcuffed her wrists behind her back. Evelyn kept her eyes glued to the ground as Tom pushed her forward.

She walked slowly like the living dead and Tom silently and sadly made sure she went where she was supposed to go. Evelyn was sent to the same main room she had been in the first night she was taken. She stood in the center of the room and when the lights were turned on she could see the entire room. She realized there was a second floor to the building, but there were only about three rooms to that floor. There was a catwalk that led to those three rooms and the center room was filled with boxes and a few tables. She saw the chair she had sat in the first night and walked towards it.

"You stand right there," Tom ordered and then walked away, leaving her alone in the room.

Evelyn looked straight at the main entrance way. It was left partially open, and Evelyn could see the dirt from outside. She had a brief fleeting feeling of hope, but she remembered where she was and the people she was with. She knew it could be a trap and she knew it most likely was. Why else would they leave her alone with only her wrists cuffed and the door open? It was a test and it was her choice whether or not she wanted to fail.

She was thinking about what could happen and for as long as her brain told her not to run, her instincts told her anything but that. She sat down on the ground and pulled her arms under her legs so she wouldn't look as awkward running. She walked forward slowly, constantly remembering that someone could show up at any moment. The last thing she wanted was for Ben to emerge from behind the door.

Evelyn didn't care about the risk, she was running. She pulled open the door with as much force as she could manage at the moment. The light hit her directly and she couldn't see for a brief moment. The world soon cleared and Evelyn was once again breathing free air. She stood next to the building for a moment. She still couldn't believe the fact that she had gotten to this point.

"BEN! THE KID GOT OUT!" Tom's voice shouted from inside.

Evelyn's heart kicked into high gear and the adrenaline managed to get her running again. She was racing against time at this moment. When they were outside she was screwed. There was no way she could outrun every single person working for them.

She heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot and ran faster if it was possible. They were outside and she was about a half a mile away from the building.

"What should we do, Jules?" Tom asked Juliet. He looked nervous but Juliet remained calm as she always was.

"Go after her. Tranquilize her if you have to, but **don't** kill her," Juliet ordered. Tom walked away and Danny followed. Ben stood next to Juliet.

"Do you think they'll get her before she gets away?" Ben asked calmly.

"No," Juliet replied with an equal calmness. Sawyer was going to be pissed that she ran away.

Evelyn kept running despite the fact that her breath was shortening and her legs hurt. She heard the sound of an engine starting even though it was distant. They could catch up to her if she didn't manage to get any farther. She had no idea where she was going, after all she was in the middle of the desert. There was no way she would make it to the road before they got there.

Juliet walked to Sawyer's office and knocked. She was allowed inside and she walked in without hesitation.

"She ran didn't she?" Sawyer asked and Juliet nodded in confirmation. Sawyer spoke again, his anger hinted but not evident in his sentence, "Well, at least we know we weren't wrong about her. She's definitely Katie's kid."

"What would you like us to do?" Juliet asked, her stomach churning and aching to get away.

"I want you and I mean only you to go after her and try to get her back once she gets to the road, which we both know she will do. Then, I would like Tom to come and see me." Sawyer turned his chair back to the monitors. He picked up a bottle of beer and took a long swig of it.

"Anything else?"

"No, you can leave now," Sawyer dismissed Juliet. Juliet left the office and walked down the hallway. She had work to do.

Evelyn heard the car driving towards her, but it was still distant and at this moment it seemed further away. She kept running, though she wasn't sure how she managed to keep doing so.

Juliet called Danny over the walkie talkie and told him and Tom to stop the chase. They had other things to do and she would take care of it herself.

Evelyn ran for what felt like over an hour. She was never caught and as far as she knew she wasn't followed. She heard the close sound of cars and she stopped in her tracks for a second. She had to determine where the sound was coming from and she soon realized it was in front of her. She ran towards the road and stopped when she reached the highway.

She was breathing heavily when she stopped and her heart pounded. The cuffs had chafed her wrists and they were red from where the metal was. She walked on the side of the road, trying to keep her arms hidden from view. The last thing she needed was for someone to call 9-1-1.

Evelyn sighed heavily, "What the fuck was I thinking?"

She walked until a car stopped. For a second, Evelyn thought she should run again.

"Do you need a ride?" A young woman asked with a smile.

Evelyn slowly nodded, "Yeah." She walked to the car and opened the passenger side door. She sat in the seat and buckled her seat belt. She shut the door and the young woman started the car and drove away.

"I'm Alex," The driver introduced herself.

"Evelyn said nothing to Alex, all she did was look out the window. The chain rattled against the door and Evelyn hoped to God the woman wasn't about to kick her out of the car. Alex had to have noticed the handcuffs by now.

"What happened?" Alex asked and the brief hint of a dark past shined through for just a moment.

"I didn't do anything," Evelyn answered quickly.

"I didn't ask if you did anything. I asked what happened." Alex pulled the car over to a gas station.

"I can't really explain it," Evelyn said shifting in her seat.

"Who do you belong to?" Alex asked finally looking at Evelyn's features.

"What?" Evelyn wasn't about to spread her parents' identities around.

"You're Kate's daughter, aren't you?" Alex smiled, realization finally dawning. How she hadn't noticed before was beyond her own comprehension.

"I don't know who Kate is. I have to go," Evelyn tried to get out of the car.

"No, it's alright, Evelyn. I'm not going to take you back to the people who took you," Alex spoke to Evelyn quickly, trying to calm the girl down.

"How do you know my name?" Evelyn was worried now. She continued to ask her questions anyway, "How do you know who they are? I didn't tell you anything! How do you know?"

"Because I used to help them, but now I'm helping you. I'll get you back to your parents, I promise. But I need to know that you trust me. Otherwise, this isn't going to work." Alex waited for Evelyn's response as her tired brain soaked in all this new information.

"Alright, I trust you." Evelyn sat back in her seat. She felt so tired.

"First, we have to get those off." Alex indicated the handcuffs, "Then, we'll talk to Charlie and try to find Kate. Alright?"

"Sure."

Alex started the car again and pulled out of the gas station. Evelyn played with a thread on her jeans as the car drove. All she thought about was what she was going to say to her mother when she saw her again. Evelyn was angry that her life had become one big lie. It hurt to think that her own mother had no problem lying to her. The thought of the lies made Evelyn feel sick and she knew that when she saw her mother again, she wasn't going to be relieved at all.

Jack and Kate arrived at the designated spot Charlie told them about. They waited for Charlie to show up and in no time, he was there.

Charlie hugged each one of them. He was obviously happy to see them, but there was also a hidden worry at their arrival that Charlie couldn't hide.

"Let's go." They followed Charlie to another car and it took them to a train station. They took the next train and when they exited the train they took yet another car. This one took them to Charlie's house and they walked into his office.

"So, let's get started, shall we?" Charlie said as he sat at his desk and Kate started to tell the story in full detail.

Claire came home with Aaron an hour later after grocery shopping. Kate was standing in the kitchen when Claire walked in. She dropped the bags and ran over to hug Kate. Aaron carried his bag to the counter and went to pick up the one his mother had dropped.

"I'll be in my room," Aaron said quickly, before he walked out of the kitchen. He had all the sympathy in the world for anyone suffering from a major trauma, but he didn't like to be around when his parents' old friends showed up needing help. He knew what kind of business they were in and he didn't want any part of it.

"Is that him?" Kate asked, watching Aaron leave the kitchen.

"Yeah, that's Aaron," Claire answered with a smile.

"He got big," Kate said incredulously. It was at this moment that she wondered how she had managed to stay away so long.

"Well, fourteen years is a long time." Claire began putting away groceries.

"Yeah, it is," Kate said sadly.

"How's Evelyn?" Claire asked happily.

"That's kind of why we're here," Kate said, her small smile fading completely.

"What happened?" Claire was genuinely worried now, Kate was like family.

"I don't really want to repeat it again," Kate whispered, her eyes glazing over with unshed tears.

"Alright. Who's we?" Claire knew when to bring up the second question. She knew Evelyn was way more important than who Kate was currently with.

"Jack," Kate answered, her tears fading and never falling.

"He's here, right now?" Claire asked, anxious to meet the man who had pulled Kate out of the life she had been in.

The phone rang and Claire picked up the phone.

"Hello? Claire?" Alex's voice met Claire's ears. Claire knew Alex's voice from speaker phone conversations Charlie had had with her. Claire had only met her once when Charlie had helped her make a fake passport after she had run from Sawyer.

"Alex?" Claire asked but she already knew who it was. Kate stood up straighter once Claire said her name.

"Can I please talk to Charlie?" Alex waited anxiously as Claire went to get Charlie. He showed up a minute later and took the phone from where it was set.

"Alex, what's wrong?" Charlie asked automatically assuming Sawyer had found Alex as well.

"I just found Evelyn Shephard," Alex said loudly as the sound of a car passing could be heard over the receiver. Charlie stood in his place. His job just got a whole lot easier. He looked at Kate who was standing next to him and had no doubt heard what Alex had said.

"Can I talk to her?" Kate asked Charlie who shrugged.

"Kate wants to talk to her," Charlie told Alex.

"She's already there?" Alex asked incredulously.

"Of course," Charlie told Alex with a smile. There was no way Kate was going to sit around and wait for Evelyn to come home.

"Hang on," Alex told him as she turned to Evelyn, "Do you want to talk to your mother?"

Evelyn nodded and Alex told Charlie. The next thing she knew, the conversation she wanted to have with her mother was about to happen. However, all the anger she had felt before dissipated temporarily. She wasn't about to shout all her grievances over the phone. She needed to have that conversation in person. Evelyn opted for cold and monotonous instead.

"Hello?" Evelyn's voice was hoarse and cracked all of a sudden. She had barely spoken to Alex, but when she had it wasn't in a weak voice only an octave above a whisper.

"Are you okay?" Kate's voice was weak all of a sudden and Evelyn knew that her mother was about to cry or she at least wanted to.

"I don't know," Evelyn answered in the same tone. There was no emotion to her voice despite the fact that she felt it in her heart.

"I'm sorry," Kate whispered devastated by this change.

"Yeah." Evelyn leaned against the phone as the blood pounded in her head while her anger slowly returned.

"I love you and I'll see you soon," Kate told Evelyn quietly, her voice cracked and Evelyn knew that she was crying now.

"Bye," Evelyn said coldly, she handed the phone back to Alex while Kate did the same with Charlie.

"I'll wire the money and you can get it at the airport. The passports will be waiting too." Charlie hung up the phone as an emotionally devastated Kate Austen walked into the living room where a stable Jack Shephard was sitting.

_ I am the patron saint of lost causes  
Aren't we all to you just near lost causes  
Are we all to you just lost? '(Fin)' by Anberlin _

* * *

_..to be continued..._


	5. Call on Your Angels

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Call on Your Angels**_

It took about an hour for Alex to get the cuffs off of Evelyn's wrists. They tried almost everything before they ended up at a gas station where they had some pliers and didn't care that a fourteen-year-old girl was in handcuffs. Evelyn didn't care about any of it. She would have ridden the plane with the damn things on if she had to. If it was possible, her heart sank even further after her conversation with her mother.

Kate Austen was devastated and Evelyn knew it was all her fault. They were on the plane shortly after the handcuffs had been removed. Evelyn hadn't spoken since the phone conversation. She gave the occasional gesture as a response but no words ever spilled from her mouth. Alex didn't seem to care about this much, something told Evelyn that Alex was used to silence.

The plane ride was going to be long and again Evelyn didn't care. Alex attempted to start a conversation, the sympathy in her voice almost unbearable to Evelyn's ears.

"So she didn't tell you?" Alex had asked after the silence had steadily become too much.

Evelyn said nothing, she just shook her head and leaned it against the window. It was her indication of utter defeat and a lost hope. She watched the clouds and watched the sun sink as the flight wore on. This was the closest she would ever come to truly flying. This was her hope and when the plane landed it would be gone. Evelyn felt her eyes sting with tears and she did the best she could to fight them. All the lies, they were getting to her. All the anger she had pent up inside her stomach was ready to pour itself out. She wanted to throw up, but there was nothing to throw up. She was completely empty and she felt it; she knew it.

Another hour passed and the sun was completely gone. Alex hadn't tried to speak to Evelyn after the first reaction. Alex was trying so hard not to upset Evelyn and for what it was worth, Evelyn appreciated it.

It only took another twenty minutes before Alex tried to get the teenager to speak again, "Are you hungry?"

Evelyn shook her head slowly. She really wasn't hungry and even if she was, she couldn't handle any food at the moment.

The stewardess came around roughly a minute afterwards and despite Evelyn's previous objection Alex took two in-flight meals anyway.

"Here you go," Alex said quietly placing the food on the tray in front of Evelyn. Evelyn left the food where it stood. She wasn't going to eat it; she didn't need to eat it. It wasn't until her stomach growled it's objection to her stance that she touched the food. Even when she ate, she ate so little that it was obvious it was only to make her stomach stop hurting. The ache in the pit of her stomach subsided but a far greater, more painful ache remained. There was no way, no simple remedy, to make this one subside. This would last for a while and it was something that only time could heal.

Alex threw out the remains of both of their food trays and pushed the small tables back into the seats they had come from. Evelyn leaned against the window again.

This was when Alex tried to start a conversation again, "I'm sorry." It was such a simple statement, but it caused so much more than something simple in Evelyn.

The thoughts raced through Evelyn's mind as she looked at Alex with eyes that showed so much pain and despair.

_Why was she apologizing, she didn't do anything? It isn't her fault that my life is shit. She doesn't know what happened. She doesn't know how I feel. Why is she apologizing?_

Evelyn shook her head and leaned back against the window. She wasn't going to say anything; there was no point. She shut her eyes and allowed the peace of sleep to overcome her exhausted frame.

Kate cried during the night while Jack did all he could to comfort her. He wasn't going to leave her side; he never had left her side. She was the one who left originally. It didn't matter now, all that mattered was what he was doing at the moment ant that was helping Kate. Evelyn would be there soon, they could work it out; make it right. They all needed a second chance.

Charlie and Claire heard the sobs from their bedroom. They weren't sleeping that night and from what they could tell, neither were Jack or Kate. They weren't sure whether or not Aaron was asleep and they were thankful that it was a weekend and it didn't really matter that they weren't sleeping.

Claire hoped with every breath in her body that everything would get better once Evelyn got there.

"Do you think its going to be bad?" Charlie asked as they lie away in their bed.

"What?" Claire questioned, turning to face him.

"When Evelyn gets here, do you think its going to make things worse?" Charlie asked, his obvious concern for his friends and the fear of discovery was easy to hear in his voice.

"With Sawyer, probably. For Jack and Kate it should get better; it has to," Claire said, her voice calm with the care for her friends in every word.

"I hope so." Charlie faced Claire and smiled sadly. The sounds of Kate's sobs quieted but everyone in the house knew she was still crying. They all knew she was in pain and they were hopeful that Jack would ease her suffering and help when things went from bad to worse. They knew that Evelyn was probably worse than Kate, and if her parents were any indication, she probably wasn't handling her pain well.

Evelyn woke up a few hours later feeling worse than she did before she fell asleep. She didn't feel relaxed, she ached from the inside out. Her stomach tightened from anger and distress. Her head hurt from where she had been sleeping and all the information she had taken in so fast. Her throat was dry from sleep and the lack of will to talk. She was a wreck but she hid it so well that no one noticed how bad she really was. Her mother would know; she always knew.

The plane was landing when Alex said something else, "Stay close." It wasn't so much anything to calm Evelyn as it was an order to ensure her safety.

Evelyn nodded and followed Alex where they needed to go after they were allowed to leave the plane. They went to a train station and took it to a place Evelyn didn't know. She had never been to London, and as much as she had always wanted to go, she wasn't enjoying the trip now.

They took two cabs before finally arriving at the suburban house Evelyn had dreaded reaching. Evelyn looked down at her shoes as they approached the front door. She counted to five in her head as she looked at the bottom of her jeans. They had frayed at the bottom from over wear and her shoes were dirty from everything that had happened. Her shirt hadn't come out too well either. It wasn't dirty in an obvious way, but she knew because she had been wearing it for a few days.

The door opened and Evelyn picked her head up to look at the occupant of the house. It was a boy about her age, maybe a year older. His hair was a dark blonde cut to a shaggy length. He stood a few inches taller than herself and his eyes were a shocking blue. She watched him as she walked into the house and she wondered whether or not he knew about his own parents, or her parents for that matter.

Aaron had been eating breakfast when he heard the knocking on the door. His dad was in the office checking something he didn't want to know about. His mother was busy cooking breakfast for the guests staying in the guest room and they hadn't come downstairs yet. He walked to the door and opened it to see a woman roughly in her twenties and a girl almost exactly the same age as himself.

He looked at her and immediately knew why his parents' friend had been crying. Aaron Pace had sense enough to know that at this moment in time the girl standing behind the older woman was going through something he didn't understand. He understood lies and he understood how painful they were, but he had known all the lies his parents told to the outside world. It was obvious, at least to him, that she did not.

He let them inside, keeping his eyes on the girl in front of him as she walked into the house, the sadness in her green eyes easy to see to any spectator. Aaron walked into the kitchen with Alex and Evelyn close in tow. Evelyn did all she could to keep the only visible, recent, injury covered. Her wrists were still raw and chafed from the handcuffs. The scratches she had suffered in the crash were beginning to fade, but she knew they could still be seen. She felt the bruises even as they faded from her body.

The house seemed virtually normal to Evelyn. It was similar to the house she used to live in, except this one was bigger and there were family photos covering the walls. Evelyn looked at the progression of life through the house in the pictures. She never showed any emotion to it, and something told her she wouldn't be feeling anything for a little while.

As they walked down the hallway, Evelyn felt the blood begin to pound in her ears. She was getting closer to seeing a brand new mother she had never met. She knew her mother, but Evelyn couldn't pick apart the truth from the lies. The minute she entered the kitchen, she was seeing her mother for the first time. She knew the Kate Austen she had seen for fourteen years, but she didn't know the Kate Austen that resided behind the smiles and the stories.

Evelyn felt a chill crawl down her back as she remembered the dark cell they had placed her in. It hadn't taken long for her mind to start playing tricks and for a minute she had thought she had heard her mother whisper something in her ear. _Count to five._ She remembered the whisper and just as she had done when she heard the whisper, she repeated the action, and counted to five.

They were in the kitchen before Evelyn reached one.

Kate heard the knock from the bedroom but she couldn't move. The fear she had let die took over and she slowly rose from where she had been laying. Jack had stayed next to her the entire night, making sure she would be alright. Again, Kate wondered how things had gotten this way. How had she let her lie get this far? How the hell had it come down to breaking her daughter into pieces? She had the chance to right the wrong and she wasn't letting the opportunity slip away, not again.

Jack helped her regain some of her composure. She hadn't slept the entire night, and while she had done it many times before, she wasn't used to crying to the point of dehydration while lacking sleep. Jack and Kate made their way down the stairs and saw the fleeting silhouette of a fourteen-year-old enter the kitchen behind an adult.

Claire and Charlie were talking in the kitchen when Aaron, Alex, and Evelyn walked in. They stopped whatever conversation they were having and turned to face the three people in the kitchen. Aaron went back to his breakfast while Alex stood beside Evelyn. Charlie and Claire studied Evelyn for a minute while Evelyn quietly studied the floor below her. She knew they were watching her, it was impossible not to know.

They were waiting for any form of reaction, any small indication that she was, in fact, still there. Most of all, they were waiting for Kate to step into the kitchen and for Evelyn to turn around and face her mother.

Kate stood directly outside the kitchen, having stopped due to the shock of seeing the same Evelyn, only she wasn't the same.

Evelyn knew she was outside, she just didn't want to look.

It was cloudy outside and rain would be falling soon. There was no doubt about the weather and how it would turn out, however, there was doubt filling the room related directly to the heart breaking conversation that was sure to happen.

"Alex, maybe you should tell me what happened," Charlie suggested and Alex nodded, following him out into the office shortly after. Aaron took his bowl of cereal and walked out of the room without a word. He passed Jack and Kate in the hall but didn't bother to look at them. Claire and Evelyn were the only two left in the kitchen, but Claire soon left. However, she gave Evelyn a small smile before exiting the kitchen.

Evelyn stood frozen in place as she heard two people enter the room. She knew the person behind the sound of the first footsteps, but not the second. She didn't want to look up and see, because she knew it would be real the minute she did. She could pretend none of it had happened right now. She could stay in the minute of naivety before clarity set in. The minute she picked her head up and faced them, her parents, it would all be real and she would hear the truth; at this moment in time, she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it.

Evelyn sat at the table, keeping her eyes glued to the floor as she walked and sat. She looked at the table top while she traced imaginary shapes and figures in front of her.

Jack and Kate watched the broken teenager in front of them walk and sit down. Jack wanted so much just to see her face, but he knew she was going through her own thing right now and he wasn't about to force his daughter to do anything. He looked at Kate who was breaking each and every minute she watched Evelyn and saw the change in the child she had raised for fourteen years.

Kate sat down across from Evelyn and waited. For the next few minutes of silence, all that could be heard was the sound of rain drops hitting the sliding glass door in the kitchen. After those few minutes passed, Evelyn finally picked her head up.

"I'm so sorry," Kate said weakly, her voice an unsteady mess of emotions. Kate looked at the red wrists from the handcuffs and she felt her stomach tighten at the thought of further injury.

Evelyn watched the breakdown begin without saying a word. She moved her eyes from her mother to the man standing in the background; her father.

She had no emotion on her face to give anything away. She felt nothing, she was nothing. She wanted so desperately to become invisible or run away. She didn't want this life, it was too much.

"Evelyn, please, say something," Kate pleaded with her daughter in a strained voice unlike any she had ever used before.

Evelyn looked back at her mother, the same helpless stare gleaming in her eyes, "Why didn't you tell me the truth?" It was whispered so lightly that Kate had to strain her hears to hear the croak of words.

"I...I just...couldn't." Kate saw Evelyn push her back into the chair, trying to increase distance between herself and her family.

"So you let them do it," Evelyn harshly whispered to her mother. She stood and walked out of the kitchen, this time leaving by choice. The rain was hitting hard now but Evelyn didn't care as she opened the front door and sat down on the front steps, shutting the door behind her.

Kate felt what little hope she had left shatter to pieces as she began to cry. Jack walked over to her and helped her up the stairs into the guest bedroom where she laid down and cried herself into an exhaustion induced sleep. He left the room and walked down the stairs, passing Aaron, face covered in sympathy. Jack could hear Charlie and Claire whispering in the kitchen, but instead of walking into the kitchen he opened the front door and sat down next to Evelyn while the rain poured on.

Evelyn's own tears had mixed with the rain and no one could tell she had been or was currently crying. This was her own mental breakdown and the minute someone else stepped onto the stairs, it was over. She knew who it was before they even sat down and started talking to her.

"I know how you feel," Jack said in a steady voice that reminded Evelyn harshly of Juliet's. It could have been a doctor thing, if Juliet was a doctor, or a similarity of the two personalities, either way Evelyn didn't want to remember.

"How could you possibly know how I feel? How this feels?" Evelyn asked sharply, her words only the beginning of more to come. Her voice was stronger now, she was using it again and while it still hurt to talk, Evelyn needed to talk.

"Because I was in the same situation once," Jack told her and she remembered the story Juliet had told her. Evelyn bent her head down, she was sorry she had said it now.

"Right," Evelyn said quietly, saying sorry in her own way.

"You need to talk to her," He said quietly as the rain hit the street loudly.

"I can't talk to her, she doesn't..." Evelyn's words trailed off into the sound of the crashing weather.

"But she does know what happened. By doing this, you're...you're breaking her heart, Evelyn," He told her his voice wavering for the first time since she had started talking to him.

She stood this time, standing full out in the rain, her will to scream more powerful than anything. She shouted at her father for the first time in her life, "And what about me! She lied! I don't know who I am! I don't know who she is! I just...I don't know what the truth is anymore!"

"You've always been who you are! There's nothing in the world that could change who you are as a person," Jack told her in a voice that was unbelievably calm for the situation.

"No, I don't know who I am. I feel betrayed and broken. I feel like everything I ever knew was fake.I feel like I am slowly being torn apart and the entire world knows it! You know it!" And just like that, the layers were ripped apart and Evelyn finally let the situation crash down upon her.

She had started crying during her speech, but after she finished talking, her sobs mixed with the crashing of the rain to mesh into a harsh reality of nothing but pain. Jack couldn't just sit and watch her cry it out, she was, after all, his daughter. Despite the fact he hadn't been there for her for the first fourteen years of her life, he was there now and he would be for the rest of her life. He stood from the steps and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her shaking frame and gave her the only source of comfort she had at the moment.

"It's alright," He repeated over and over to her as she sobbed into his shirt.

_ This island has become  
an ocean and my boat's to small  
The waves are crashing in  
and I can't save this sinking ship "Lost and Found" by Senses Fail_

* * *

_...to be continued..._


	6. Weapons Wired

**_Chapter 6_**

**_ Weapons Wired_**

That night Evelyn, Jack, and Kate all refused to eat dinner. It was fine with Claire, considering no one in her family was eating either. The weighing emotion in the house was enough to stunt anyone's appetite. Normally, Claire would have insisted they eat something, but she was in no mood to nag.

The darkness from the night was pressing in on the house and the constant sound of rain hitting wasn't helping the mood. Claire set up a sleeping bag with several blankets and pillows on the floor in the carpeted basement. It served more as a practice or rehearsal room for Aaron, who had always loved music. A piano was set up beside the wall and both an acoustic and electric guitar rested in the corner of the spacious room. The amplifier was closely beside the guitars and various band posters decorated the room.

"There you go," Claire said kindly with a smile.

"Thanks," Evelyn muttered quietly with a forced half smile. The sound of thunder rumbled as a flash of lightning illuminated the outside world. Evelyn shuddered and hoped Claire hadn't noticed.

"Are you sure you don't want any dry clothes?" Claire asked as she looked at the now damp jeans and t-shirt. Evelyn nodded and Claire felt a need to laugh that she held back. Evelyn was just as stubborn as her parents.

"You know you're going to get sick if you sleep in those right?" Claire asked, trying to persuade Evelyn in to wearing something other than the dirty, now wet clothes she had been wearing for days.

Evelyn shrugged, "Good night."

"Good night," Claire said with a smile, giving up, she left the room. She turned out the lights and Evelyn laid down in the sleeping bag.

She placed a pillow underneath her head and covered the sleeping back with two of the six blankets. She was physically warm enough, but inwardly she was suffering from hypothermia as every lie and her own loneliness formed into another icicle on her heart.

As exhausted as she was, she couldn't manage to shut her eyes. Every memory of her captivity swam through her head. The cold, cruel smile Juliet had when Evelyn had let slip her last name. The nasally, condescending tone Ben had used in the car on her ride to her prison. The dark closet she had been thrown into on her first night. She had heard enough to know that the people who had taken her, all worked for the same person; Sawyer. They were paid killers, every single one. Her kidnapping was their revenge because her mother left. That was all Evelyn knew and at the moment, that was all anyone but the people involved knew as well.

Another flash of lightning caused the entire room to light up. The crash of thunder came almost immediately after and Evelyn pulled the covers over her head. She hated thunderstorms, and now, when the silence in the room was so pressing, she hated them even more. The minute the lightning flashed a second time, Evelyn stood from the sleeping bag and grabbed one of the blankets. She wrapped it around herself and walked up the stairs to the living room. She saw her father asleep on the couch and she walked up the second staircase towards the guest bedroom.

She opened the door carefully and saw her mother was asleep on the bed, her cheeks tear stained. Evelyn felt a slight sting of remorse knowing she had caused the grief. She took the pillow off of the opposite side of the bed and dropped it on the floor, she laid down and pulled the blanket over herself. The lightning flashed again and she shuddered as the thunder clapped and the rain rapped at the window. She pulled her knees up to her chest as she curled into herself with the blanked above her head. She mentally counted to five as the thunder hit again after the lightning flashed.

Kate woke up once the thunder rumbled. She looked around the room the feeling someone else was in the room hitting hard. Her peripheral vision didn't see anyone, however the minute she heard the muffled whimpering she knew who was in the room. She looked over the edge of the bed and sure enough, she saw Evelyn curled up and covered with a blanket.

"Ev, are you alright?" Kate asked in a whispered and hoarse voice from sleep.

"What do you think?" The angry, muffled, and sarcastic response caused Kate to sigh in frustration.

"You know you can sleep on the bed, right?" Kate asked in the same sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, but I don't want to." The thunder roared again and Evelyn stood up from her fetal position. She grabbed the pillow and threw it back on the bed and buried herself in the comforter and blankets.

"What's your excuse now?" Kate asked laying back down.

Evelyn turned to face her mother, "I still don't forgive you." It was still amazing to Kate that Evelyn could seem scared and innocent one minute then completely turn it all around and come up with such biting words. It was at that moment that Kate realized the complete turn around of emotion was her own fault and the biting words were Jack's fault.

"Fine, but tomorrow we're getting you new clothes because you can't just keep wearing the same outfit." Kate turned around and Evelyn did the same. Nearly a second after their first, almost civil, conversation Evelyn fell asleep and Kate did the same.

The next morning, Evelyn woke up to a sun drenched room all alone. She got out of the bed and walked quickly to the door. She opened it to unintentionally run into Aaron who was walking by the minute she opened it.

"I'm sorry," She apologized after they both recovered from almost falling down the stairs.

"It's fine," Aaron said in the same apologetic tone Evelyn had used. It sounded better on him, but Evelyn contributed that to his British accent. Everything sounded better in an accent, even swear words.

"What time is it?" Evelyn asked after a minute of awkward silence passed where neither one knew quite what to say.

"Around noon," Aaron told her while he finished pulling on the sweatshirt he had been trying to put on before he and Evelyn had collided.

"Alright, thanks...dude," Evelyn mentally threw herself down the stairs for sounding so stupid because she didn't know his name.

Aaron smiled and laughed, "Aaron, I'm Aaron."

Evelyn smiled and gave a small laugh as well, "Evelyn, but you probably already knew that."

"No, actually I didn't. Do you want one of my sweatshirts? Because its kind of cold outside and I think your mother is planning on taking you to buy some clothes." Aaron pointed to his room and Evelyn nodded.

"Do you have an extra shirt I could wear too?" Evelyn asked as she looked at the extent of wear and tear on the shirt she had been wearing for days at a time.

"Yeah," Aaron said with a smile.

A few minutes later, Evelyn exited the bathroom wearing a _Brand New_ t-shirt. Aaron handed Evelyn the _Donnie Darko _sweatshirt he had bought a few weeks ago.

"Thanks," She gratefully zipped up the sweatshirt halfway and followed Aaron down the stairs towards the kitchen where her family, biological and extended, sat.

Everyone stopped what they had been previously doing and watched as Evelyn walked into the room. She looked around at all of the faces before speaking, "What?"

"Nothing, we need to go, now," Kate gently said the words before she, Jack, Charlie and Claire rushed the teenagers out of the kitchen and back up the stairs towards Aaron's bedroom.

This time Claire was the one to speak, "Aaron, you and Evelyn go and pack some clothes alright? Make sure there are some shirts for Evelyn and another sweatshirt. You need another pair of pants and some shirts too. Put it all in one bag, now hurry and get ready. Also, grab anything else you might need for a long trip."

Aaron and Evelyn did as they were told, both confused about what had just happened. They didn't know what was going on, but if they hadn't collided in the hallway and they had walked in to the kitchen earlier, they would have heard the message on Charlie's cell phone.

Charlie began to check his messages on the mobile phone he used for business only. Jack and Kate sat silently at the table while Claire was making breakfast. Alex was in the office, figuring out her next move. Charlie dropped the cell phone the minute the voice he never wanted to hear came over. He quickly recovered the phone and listened intently to the message that was left.

It was Sawyer's manipulative and graining voice, "I hear your keeping my prisoner's company, Techy. I want the kid back, Charlie, and I want the doctor here with her. Kate's as good as dead so stop helping her and start helping me, or we're going to have a problem. Aaron grew up real fast didn't he? Claire's a lot prettier than I believed she was. If you bring them to me, I'll leave your family alone. However, try and hide them, and you're dead, Claire's dead, and Aaron's my new employee. I'll see ya soon."

Charlie dropped the phone once again, but he let it sit there. Claire stopped taking out a cereal box and looked at him. Charlie had a choice, and he knew it. He could turn over his friends and their child or he could do the right thing and run. They could all run. He tried to keep his family out of this, out of his life. He had done his best, but his best wasn't enough. He let the phone sit on the floor as he told everyone in the kitchen what he had just heard and what they were going to do. The minute Evelyn and Aaron entered, was the minute Charlie had just finished explaining the plan.

Aaron packed his bag quickly with Evelyn helping. He grabbed a backpack from underneath his bed and shoved a few books and a CD player inside. He also made sure to pack a few CDs themselves. He grabbed a notebook from his bedside table and threw that in his backpack along with two pens.

"We need to go now!" Claire's voice met the two kids' ears. Aaron grabbed the duffel he had packed with clothes and Evelyn grabbed the backpack. They ran out of Aaron's room thinking they would never see it again.

The kids were rushed into the back of an old _Volkswagon_ van while the adults sat in the middle and front. Charlie was driving, with Claire in the front passenger seat, while Jack and Kate sat in the middle seat. Aaron and Evelyn were stuck in the back. The van lurched forward and just as it turned the corner on to the next street, two black cars screeched to a halt in front of the suburban home. Alex had left the minute Charlie had said who had been on the phone. She couldn't be involved in the situation seeing as she had just left the business. They all understood for the most part.

"Why did we have to leave?" Aaron was the first to break the silence in the car. Evelyn turned to him as he asked it, she knew the answer and something told her he already knew too. However, she wasn't going to be the one to break the news to him if he didn't know.

"Aaron, just please be quiet right now. I need to think," Charlie answered quickly and continued to drive while Aaron sat back in the seat with a sigh.

Evelyn looked at the reaction, studying every emotion in the car. The adults were barely phased by the escape and Evelyn had an idea that she looked the same way. Aaron was the only one who was visibly frustrated and confused by the situation. Evelyn reached into the backpack and pulled out the notebook Aaron packed and one of the pens. She wrote quickly, doing her best to keep it under her mother's radar.

Evelyn looked up while she wrote the sentence and realized her mother hadn't noticed the writing. Evelyn pushed the notebook over to Aaron and he looked at the words Evelyn had written.

_Everyone in this car is a liar._

Aaron looked at Evelyn as he read the words. He grabbed the pen from her hand and wrote quickly. He made noise as he wrote and Evelyn wasn't sure if anyone had noticed or didn't care.

She was handed the notebook and she read his words.

_Even you?_

Evelyn looked at the two little words and a question mark he had written. He handed her the pen and she waited for a minute before underlining the word, everyone.

Aaron sighed again and wrote faster than before. He handed the notebook over to Evelyn who read the scratchy handwriting just as quickly as he had written it.

_Why are you involved?_

Evelyn quickly scrawled out her words and Aaron read it over her shoulder as opposed to taking the notebook from her.

_I don't know._

Aaron took the pen from her directly after she finished and wrote fast.

_I know what my dad does, I always have._

Evelyn nodded and ripped out the page. She opened her window and threw it out on the highway. She didn't want her mother to read it, she didn't want anyone to read it. Aaron looked at her in confusion but Evelyn just shrugged and remarkably he understood her reasons. Kate had heard the window open and had seen Evelyn throw the paper out the window. She had even seen the shrug, but she had turned around before Evelyn saw her.

The van drove onwards as the passengers began to feel the effects of a road trip. Kate fell asleep on Jack's shoulder while Jack watched her sleep and turned to look at Evelyn as she stared out the window, her feelings as unreadable as her mother's. Jack smiled as he faced forward again, doing his best not to wake Kate. Aaron took quick glances at Evelyn while he listened to one of the CD's in the CD player he had packed.

Charlie drove while Claire sat in her seat and glanced at the various people in the van. Claire knew it was going to be a long trip. It was quiet now, but it wouldn't be in a little while. Claire smiled as she looked at Charlie and despite the circumstances, she realized she wouldn't want her life any other way.

Evelyn stared out the window at passing cars and landscape wishing for about the thousandth time that she could go back in time to when she was happy. At this moment, she couldn't remember when that last time was and it stung every time she thought about it. It made her heart cry out in pain as she realized that was all she felt right now. Pain. She had forgotten about the happiness she had once had in her previous life. A life filled with smiles, as fake as they may have been from her mother. She realized, as she mulled over all her thoughts and feelings, she preferred the lie than the truth and that hurt the most.

_ In any other world  
You could tell the difference  
And let it all unfurl  
Into broken remnants  
Smile like you mean it  
And let yourself let go (Any Other World by Mika) _

* * *

_...to be continued..._

**Author's Note: **_I should probably mention that Aaron and Evelyn are NOT cousins. Jack and Claire aren't related in this story. That is the joy of AU stories. You can make anything happen that wouldn't happen on the show or hasn't happened on the show. By the way, I will explain Sawyer and the others' plans or reasons behind the whole kidnapping thing and such. I just wanted to let you all know that.  
_


	7. Breakneck Speeds

_**Chapter 7**_

_**Breakneck Speeds**_

Juliet approached the house after Sawyer's original agents determined the house was clear of all people. She outwardly sighed and thought of the next course of action.

"Find the van," She ordered one of the agents exiting the house. He quickly jumped into one of the black cars and sped off, closely followed by the second car. She knew about the van, Charlie wasn't exactly the master of keeping secrets. He had done well enough keeping Claire hidden, but the minute Aaron was born, Sawyer knew about everything. Sawyer hadn't said anything simply because Charlie was the only source of weaponry and quick escapes. Sawyer needed Charlie to survive in the dark world hidden behind fake smiles and intricate stories.

The van drove silently along the highway towards the airport that would take the two families to the United States. Currently, they were headed towards London, where the airport was located. Evelyn felt her eyes droop as the hours passed. She let them shut as she rested against her arm. The van swerved and Evelyn immediately opened her eyes before she smacked her head against the window. Kate had woken up as well and every head in the van shot up to see the cause of the swerve, Charlie and Claire excluded.

"What happened?" Jack asked as he noticed Charlie check the rear view mirror for the third time in the course of one minute. Jack turned around to see two black vehicles following the van at a breakneck speed. Charlie pushed his foot on the gas as one car was in striking distance. Evelyn turned around as the van swerved for a second time to avoid being run off the road. She saw the two cars repeat the action and speed up as well. She watched as a passenger in one of the cars leaned out of the window, gun in hand.

"Gun!" She shouted as she dropped to the floor pulling Aaron with her. Jack and Kate dropped down as well as the back window was shattered from countless bullets flying at rapid fire. Charlie swerved the van again to avoid the bullets. The van passed between a truck and SUV while the two black cars went around, unknowingly driving in front of the van. The bullets had stopped flying the second the van disappeared and the sound of a car crash met all of the ears of the people on the road. Charlie pulled the van away from the truck to see one of the black cars completely turned over on the side of the road.

Charlie looked for the second car, but it was no where to be found. He heard the sound of screeching tires and he realized the black car was in front of them, driving in reverse so the passenger could fire at them easily. Charlie turned the wheel quickly, avoiding the rapid fire once again.

"Kate, can you reach the back of the van?" Charlie asked quickly, his words just as rapid as the gun fire they faced.

"I don't know. Why?" Kate shouted, her voice strained with her nerves.

"There's a gun and ammo in a suitcase under the back seat," Charlie shouted as he switched lanes to avoid the car once again. Kate understood but couldn't reach the suitcase. Evelyn turned around, grabbed it and passed it to her mother. Kate unlatched the suitcase and pulled out the 9mm hand gun. She loaded it and stood on her knees as opposed to her feet.

"Claire, can you switch with Kate?" Charlie asked, his voice shaking with fear. Clarie nodded and switched with Kate quickly. Kate rolled down the window and waited for the car to get into the line of fire once again. The car swerved in front of them in no less than a second. It continued to drive backwards and the shooter leaned out of the window just as Kate did the same. She was careful and wasted no time. There was a reason she was the deadliest woman in the world. She took the shot and the shooter was out of the window to be run over by the vehicle he had been riding in. Kate waited another second before taking her shot at the driver. She hit him right where she needed to, the neck. The car swerved and flipped over the guardrail of the bridge they had been passing over. The sound of water crashing let Kate know where the car had ended up.

Charlie pulled the van over to the shoulder and stopped the car. Charlie took a deep breath while Kate turned around to look at everyone in the car. Evelyn immediately stood up from the floor where shattered glass had surrounded her. She looked at her hand and pulled out a small piece of broken glass. She dropped the bloody shard to the ground and felt the urge to vomit tear into her stomach. She rushed to the door and tore open the sliding car door. She jumped out of the car and felt the world spinning as she stumbled onto the grass that was the side of the road. Jack rushed after her with Kate close in tow. Claire moved herself back to the front passenger seat while Aaron sat where he had originally been sitting. The door remained open and Aaron could have easily followed Evelyn, but he was too stunned to even think of the action.

Evelyn felt the world spin faster as she heard the sound of cars passing. She leaned over the grass and vomited what bile was in her stomach. She coughed the remaining bile onto the grass while Jack and Kate watched as Evelyn held her own hair back. Evelyn wiped her mouth with the back of her hand to catch any ounce of vomit that may have been on her face. Evelyn took a deep breath and turned around to face her parents.

"Ev..." Kate started in a sympathetic tone as she still held the gun.

"I don't want to hear it!" Evelyn shouted, all of her vent up emotions rising to the surface in an instance.

"I'm..." Kate tried to apologize but she was ruthlessly cut off again.

"Don't fucking apologize! You're not sorry! You're not! Don't pretend you are, when clearly you aren't," Evelyn shouted angrily as the sound of traffic passing continued to meet their ears.

"I wasn't going to apologize for what just happened. I was going to say I was sorry for dragging you into all of this," Kate's voice became shallow and breathless with the weight that was pressing on her heart. Kate hated being the cause of all the anger and frustration. She hated the fact that she had dragged her daughter into the life of blood and pain. A life Kate had tried so hard to leave behind.

Evelyn gave a shallow, hollow laugh, "Dragged me into this? You didn't drag me into this. **They** dragged me into this, literally. You just lied to me for fourteen years. There's a distinct difference between what they did and what you did. They told me the truth, you didn't even try." Evelyn walked away from the van and away from her parents.

"You're going to believe them over your mother?" This time Jack was the one to speak. Evelyn turned around at the question.

"I guess so," Evelyn spoke in a voice drained of all emotion. Her tone was monotonous and it lacked any quiver of pain or waver of fear while Kate felt enough emotion for both of them. Evelyn turned around again and began to walk away for the second time.

"Please, just listen," Jack spoke again, trying to salvage what was left of his daughter's mental health and emotional stability.

Evelyn turned around, "No, I'm done listening." She turned her back for the third time and walked away for what she hoped would be the final time.

"I can't change what happened. And if I could, I wouldn't." Evelyn turned around as her mother spoke in a voice stronger than the tone she had previously been speaking in.

"What?" Evelyn turned around for the fourth time in a span of ten minutes.

"You grew up happy and away from everything that you are experiencing now. Would you honestly have been happy knowing your mother was a murderer? Knowing why we moved around so much when you were younger? You would have been afraid your entire life." Kate took a deep breath as she finished speaking.

"If you had told me, maybe we wouldn't be in this situation. Did you ever think about that? You didn't have to tell me when I was five but you could have told me when I was old enough to understand. It would have been a lot easier to handle than hearing it from someone who has a file on your entire life story." Evelyn took a ragged breath as her anger began to dissipate.

Kate gave up, "Where are you going to go?"

"Away from you," Evelyn said, her voice a mesh of frustration and disappointment.

"And what if they catch you again? What happens then? I won't be able to find you." Kate was walking towards Evelyn now, while Evelyn remained motionless. Evelyn thought about it for a moment and walked past her mother. She got back inside the van and sat down in her seat, silent as if nothing had happened.

Kate followed suit with Jack close behind her. Charlie took off down the highway again and managed to get the two families to the airport without any further complications. Charlie picked up the tickets he had already ordered beforehand and everyone got on the plane heading for the United States.

Evelyn sat next to her father while she looked out the window of the plane. Her mother was sitting next to her father while Charlie, Claire, and Aaron sat in front of them. Evelyn hadn't made eye contact with anyone since she tried to leave, not even Aaron who had become her only friend and the only person she could actually talk to.

Aaron glanced back at Evelyn every once in a while but she never noticed.

Halfway through the flight, Kate fell asleep and Jack took his chance to start talking with Evelyn.

"I'm sorry you found out the way you did." Jack wasn't sure what to say exactly but he tried what had worked in the past.

"Bullshit," Evelyn spat out the word with enough anger to send a shiver down anyone's spine. Jack, however, wasn't even fazed by the outburst.

"You're right, I'm not sorry you found out," Jack said quietly, taking a different approach to the conversation.

"What?" Evelyn turned to face her father.

"I'm not sorry you found out. However, I am sorry about the way you found out." Jack sat back in his chair and allowed Evelyn the time to mull over his sentence.

"So if you had been around, you would have told me?" Evelyn asked quietly, her eyes returning to the window and the passing clouds.

"Probably," Jack answered just as quietly and as truthful as he sounded, he honestly wasn't sure how things would have turned out if Kate hadn't run away or he had gone after her despite the circumstances behind the disappearance.

"Why weren't you around?" Evelyn asked, this time turning to face her father as she spoke so quietly Jack barely heard the words clearly.

"It's kind of a long story," Jack told her in a slightly sympathetic tone.

"And your point is," Evelyn stated with a shrug.

"I think it's better if we talk about that later," Jack said with a smile.

"Is this like a if I tell you I'll have to kill you thing," Evelyn said, sarcasm and a light tone dripping in every word. Jack laughed while Evelyn cracked her first sincere smile since her kidnapping.

"Are you going to forgive her?" Jack asked Evelyn after the minor smile died away.

"I don't know," Evelyn whispered before turning back to the window she had been looking out of. She honestly wasn't sure if she could forgive her mother. She was unsure about the future and she was unsure about how she felt. The only remotely good thing to come out of her conversation with her father, was the simple fact that she wasn't considering hurling herself off the plane just to get away.

_ She would change everything, everything, just ask her  
Caught in the in between of beautiful disaster  
She just needs someone to take her home (Beautiful Disaster by Jon McLaughlin)  
_

* * *

_...to be continued..._


	8. Taking Back Control

_**Chapter 8**_

_**Taking Back Control  
**_

The plane landed a few hours later and the two families entered the airport. Evelyn, Aaron and Claire sat down in three seats while Charlie went to get the bags.

"Can I talk to you a second?" Kate asked Jack before the trio sat down and Charlie left. Jack nodded and followed Kate towards the bathrooms. They walked into the Men's bathroom. There was no one inside and Kate made sure to check the stalls despite the fact that no feet could be seen. She walked over to the bathroom door and locked it, ensuring no intruders would overhear the conversation.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Jack asked after she finished ensuring no interruption. Kate turned around to face him quickly and planted her lips hard on his. Jack stumbled back into the sinks before returning the kiss with more force than the amount she had used initially. Kate reluctantly pulled away knowing it hadn't been her intention for a quickie in the bathroom. They were breathing heavy for a few minutes before Jack finally spoke.

"Is that what you wanted to tell me?" He laughed and for the first time, she did as well.

"Not really, but I'm not complaining." She smiled and she couldn't remember what exactly she wanted to say.

"Then, what was it?" Jack asked after the brief moment of silence where they were both caught up in each others gazes. After he asked her, Kate remembered what she had to say.

"How are we supposed to explain everything to Evelyn?" Kate asked, her voice shaken with worry and her smile fading from view.

"We start from the beginning," Jack answered, his voice sincere in every word.

"When should we tell her?" Kate began to pace and Jack smirked a little at the memories of nights where she would pace in his apartment. At the time he hadn't known why she was doing it, but after she explained everything he knew why she had been pacing. She was thinking of ways to tell him the truth, just as she was doing now.

"As soon as possible. She doesn't need to hear anymore from other people," Jack said kindly, watching her continue to pace and then suddenly stop.

Kate nodded in agreement, "So tonight then?"

All Jack did was nod and Kate unlocked the bathroom door where they both stepped out and saw the commotion in the airport. Because while they were in the bathroom, something happened and they would soon figure out just what.

Evelyn watched her parents head in the same direction Charlie had gone. She wanted to know what they were talking about, so she followed them. However, she kept herself at such a distance that a large crowd passed between her and her parents. She didn't know where they had disappeared to, so she took the path Charlie had taken.

She walked quicker down the airport, than she had before, never realizing she herself was being followed by none other than Aaron. He was better at following people than she was. He kept at a distance but he walked fast enough so no crowd would come between them.

Evelyn stopped at baggage claim and noticed neither Charlie nor her parents were at the carousel. She turned around and noticed Aaron for the first time since they had gotten on the plane. He walked over to her, smiled and shrugged. Somehow, that was enough of an explanation for Evelyn and they both turned around to see Charlie on the pay phone with someone. They casually walked over to him and overheard the conversation that would start the commotion.

"I told you Sawyer, no one gets hurt. Jack, Kate and Evelyn are all in the airport where you can get them," Charlie said hushed into the phone. Evelyn stopped in her tracks having heard everything he just said. Aaron stopped as well, having heard everything his father just said.

"I need to know you're going to keep your promise. You leave my family alone and you can have what you want. Send your cars to come get them just leave us alone." Charlie hung up the phone angrily. He ran his hand over his hair and down his face breathing out a frustrated sigh.

"Dad," Aaron uttered, his voice so low and dangerous Evelyn got goosebumps.

"Aaron?" Charlie asked, his voice high and scared. He turned around to see Evelyn and Aaron standing behind him, clearly within hearing distance.

"How could you?" Evelyn asked, but she didn't wait around for an answer. The sound of screeching tires and gunfire met her ears. Aaron and Evelyn, as well as nearly everyone in the airport turned towards the sound before two cars smashed through the glass doors into the airport. The people waiting for their planes and leaving their planes ran in every direction while the sound of gunfire and motors running continued all around.

Evelyn ran towards the carousel for cover while Aaron ran towards his mother. Claire was running towards where she had seen Aaron rush after Evelyn. She met up with her son halfway through the airport where she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the bathrooms.

"Mum, we need to find Evelyn!" Aaron shouted over the sound of the pandemonium. Claire knew he was right and she nodded while they kept close to the ground as various people dressed all in black carried automatic weapons looking for their targets.

Evelyn was crouched behind the carousel while bags spun around above her head. She heard loud footsteps approaching the carousel and she held her breath.

"Evelyn," The voice was taunting her, they knew where she was. She heard the sound of a radio cracking as the voice that had spoken to her spoke into it, "I think I've found target A."

The footsteps got closer and louder as the blood began to pound in Evelyn's ears.

Aaron finally saw Evelyn crouched behind the baggage claim carousel as a man dressed in black approached her carrying an automatic rifle, a handgun holstered onto his belt. Aaron's eyes widened as he saw the man get closer and Evelyn frozen in her place.

Claire saw the man approaching Evelyn, "Oh my God." Her voice was barely above a whisper and Aaron never heard what she said because of the chaos surrounding him.

Aaron ran forward, only thinking of Evelyn trapped in fear behind the carousel. He leaped on to the man in black and threw him to the ground. The man tried to get up but Aaron jumped on top of him and managed to get in a few decent punches before the man overthrew him and hit him with the barrel of his gun. Aaron stumbled back his head in pain and the world spinning. He heard the sound of a gun cocked and before he realized what was happening, he heard two people hit the ground and a single gun shot sounded next to him while the sound of something clattering on the floor came second before the sound of a body dropping. His heart stopped for a moment and once the world cleared, he saw Evelyn holding the handgun with the man lying dead on the airport floor and just as quickly as the world became clear, it was blurry once again.

Evelyn's breath stopped short as she dropped the handgun and stumbled back before falling on the floor as well, but for very different reasons. She felt a small sharp pain in her hand and the world spin as she vomited on the floor next to the body of the man she just murdered. Claire walked over, her body tense in shock. She pulled off the mask of the dead body and revealed the corpse of a man only Evelyn knew the name of. Evelyn looked over at the man's face and saw Ethan lying dead on the ground. She felt sick for a second time but she didn't vomit.

Jack and Kate saw Charlie running through the airport before they ran towards him.

"Charlie, what's happening?" Kate asked and she noticed the tears in Charlie's eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I had to. It was for my family," Charlie muttered weakly and Jack realized who was to blame for what was happening at the moment. He curled his hand into a fist and punched Charlie hard across the face, drawing blood from Charlie's nose and mouth.

"If Evelyn dies, you're dead," Jack shouted at Charlie walking away from the scene and towards the center of the airport where he could begin looking for Evelyn. Kate walked up to Charlie, kneeling on the ground as blood poured down his face.

"If Jack doesn't get to you first you'll have me to deal with," She threatened before running to catch up with Jack. Charlie simply started crying, realizing how much of a mistake he just made. It had been easy to avoid the cars knowing they wouldn't be Sawyer's commands. He had told everyone the plan and while they had rushed to get things together, he called Sawyer and told him his own plan. At this moment in time, he had never regretted anything more in his life.

Jack and Kate raced around the airport, looking for any sign of Evelyn, Aaron, or Claire. They heard the single gun shot in the airport filled only with the sounds of screams now. They ran towards where the shot had rung out and saw Evelyn standing with the gun in hand before dropping it and collapsing on to her knees on the floor. They noticed Aaron standing still, his hand on his head while Claire unmasked the man dressed in black.

They reached the trio and saw Ethan's corpse on the ground while Evelyn remained on the floor in shock. Jack rushed over to Aaron and checked his head for any obvious sign of a concussion. Kate helped Evelyn off of the ground while Evelyn's hands trembled from post traumatic stress. She couldn't take her eyes off the corpse on the floor while she saw the blood continue to spread on the floor. Jack picked up the hand gun and quickly wiped it off before putting it into the back of his jeans.

Kate shielded Evelyn's view of Ethan's dead body as Evelyn looked down at her hands and noticed the blood spatters visible on her skin and jeans, as well as the blood from a cut she had gotten. Evelyn looked over at Aaron and saw him still in a daze as Claire helped him get away from the scene.

"Where's Charlie?" Claire asked, worried about her husband.

"This was his fault, Claire," Jack broke the news as they finally reached the street without being detected by any of Sawyer's hired killers.

Claire hugged Aaron a little closer to her as they got further away from the airport where police cars were just beginning to show up. They ducked in to an alleyway where Kate sat Evelyn down on the ground.

"Jack she's bleeding," Kate said worried and Jack rushed over to where Evelyn was sitting against the brick wall. Evelyn hadn't noticed anything after the gun went off. She was still in too much shock to realize what was happening.

Jack looked at Evelyn's hand where a cut was visible. It had obviously happened during her fight, but whether or not she realized it as it was happening was anyone's guess. Jack looked at the cut that ran across her hand and noticed it was deep enough to need stitches. He needed to get her to a hospital for the medical attention he couldn't give in an alleyway, or at least he needed alcohol, some thread, and a needle.

"We need to get her to a hospital, it needs stitches," Jack said quickly and Kate froze, they couldn't take Evelyn to a hospital like this.

"Jack, we can't take her to a hospital, not like this." Kate stood up as Jack did the same.

"Then, what are we supposed to do?" Jack asked, but he knew exactly what the second option was.

"Its the only option," Kate persuaded and Jack reluctantly agreed.

"Well we need to get a few things, you and Claire find the nearest supermarket. I need gauze, medical tape, needles, thread, and peroxide," Jack said rushed while Kate and Claire nodded. Jack continued this time figuring out what he needed for Aaron, "I also need a flashlight, now go." They ran down the alley, desperate to find the things Jack needed.

Jack turned to Evelyn and pulled off his jacket and pressed the cloth onto Evelyn's open wound. Evelyn tensed for a minute but the pain quickly subsided and she returned back to the vacant stare at the brick wall opposite her. Aaron walked towards Jack and stood next to him.

"Is she going to be okay?" Aaron asked, his voice trembling with fear as the sun fully set and darkness enveloped the alleyway.

"Physically, yes. Emotionally, I have no idea." Jack stood in the alley as he heard footsteps running towards them. Kate and Claire showed up shortly, both out of breath and carrying two plastic bags.

Kate handed Jack the medical supplies he needed and the flashlight. Jack handed the flashlight to Aaron, "Shine it on her hand and keep it steady." Aaron nodded and did as he was told. Jack poured some peroxide on the cotton balls and dabbed Evelyn's wound, this time she didn't even flinch with the pain.

"This is going to hurt," Jack warned but Evelyn wasn't reacting to anything around her.

"Is she okay?" Kate asked, worried about the lack of response.

"She's in shock." Jack began to stitch up Evelyn while Aaron held the flashlight over the wound. Jack continued to stitch while he counted to five in his head as both Evelyn and Kate did the same thing. Jack placed the gauze over the stitches and medically taped it to prevent the wound from ripping open and to keep it safe from infection. Jack stood up after he was finished and faced Kate, "We need to get out of here."

Kate nodded and lifted Evelyn off the ground. Jack checked Aaron further for a concussion, but found Aaron to only have a bruise and a minor cut from where the gun had hit him. Aaron and Claire followed closely behind Jack who was standing next to Evelyn and Kate.

Jack supported Evelyn as Kate hot wired a car. Kate sat in the driver's seat with Claire in the passenger seat. Jack sat in the back between Evelyn and Aaron. Kate drove the car far away from the airport and the alleyway in New York City. Soon they were on the turnpike, far away from the state of New York and well into the state of New Jersey.

_ It's taking it's toll on you  
Misshapen your soul's view  
Feel dead while you're living  
No one foreseeing (Dead Eyes by Stutterfly)_

* * *

_...to be continued..._


	9. Honesty and Forgiveness

_Jack and Kate's story is a flashback and is put in italic because of that fact. Here's what you've been waiting for...the whole truth._**_  
_**

**_Chapter 9_**

_**Honesty and Forgiveness  
**_

Halfway across the turnpike, Evelyn and Claire switched places while Jack and Aaron switched as well. Aaron leaned against his mother as he fell asleep while Evelyn stared blankly out of the window. The car stopped every once in a while for gas and food, but other than that it kept driving. It was another two days of non-stop driving, with Jack and Kate switching every thousand miles, before they were driving through Texas.

The sun was setting when the car passed a motel, at which Kate stopped the car and parked it. Jack, Kate, Claire, and Aaron all got out of the car, but Evelyn remained in the passenger seat staring at the dashboard.

"Jack, can you check them in?" Kate asked, turning to face Jack.

"Sure," Jack stated, leading Aaron and Claire away from the car. He didn't ask Kate what she was going to do, but if it would help Evelyn he didn't need to ask questions.

Kate sat back in the driver's seat while Evelyn turned to face her. Evelyn had begun to respond to people talking to her or looking at her, but she still hadn't spoken herself. Kate took a deep breath but was scared to break the silence. She didn't know what she was going to say or how she was going to say it, but she knew she had to say it. She had to tell the story, Evelyn needed to know.

"Do you really want to know what happened? Why Jack wasn't around?" Kate asked quietly, but she was going to tell Evelyn regardless of her answer.

Evelyn nodded slowly and waited for the story to begin.

"Alright." Kate took a deep breath and started to tell the story she had tried to keep hidden for so many years.

_Her arm hurt like hell. She was used to cuts like these, but she wasn't used to getting them during training. It was easy to get them on a job because so many expecting victims decided to defend themselves. However, training was supposed to be simple, this time around, it wasn't. Kate sat on the sterilized bed in the hospital thinking over how many things went wrong in her training session. She wasn't prepared, it was simple as that, for once in her life, Kate hadn't prepared herself for the next step in her opponent's plan._

_The curtain was pulled open to reveal an intern in his early twenties. Kate smiled at him. He was attractive but he fumbled a bit with the things he needed to sew up her arm._

_"Kate Austen?" The intern asked with a smile. She nodded in response. "I'm Dr. Shephard."_

_"So are you going to stand there or what?" Kate asked as Jack stood for a minute staring at her._

_"Sorry," He apologized while he pulled out the needle._

_He began stitching up her arm with surprising speed. He was careful and he made sure every stitch was in its right place so she would heal properly._

_"How did this happen?" Jack asked as he inspected the wound when he finished stitching it up. Kate was caught off guard as she had been staring at him the entire time._

_"Oh, it was nothing. I fell," Kate lied smoothly. Jack looked into her eyes and for a minute Kate thought she saw a flash of disappointment, almost as if he knew she was lying._

_"Keep it clean and change the bandages once a day so it won't get infected," Jack instructed her. Kate nodded as he taped the gauze over the stitches._

_"Anything else?" Kate asked, standing from the bed._

_"What are you doing for dinner tomorrow?" Jack asked with a forwardness Kate hadn't expected when she met him._

_"I thought doctors weren't supposed to get involved with their patients, Dr. Shephard." Kate smiled, her hand already on the curtain that would lead her to the bustling main floor of the hospital._

_"Jack, and..." He signed his name on her chart, "...as of this moment I am no longer your doctor and you are no longer my patient. So will you go out with me?" Jack smiled and while Kate wanted to say no, given the circumstances of her life, she couldn't._

_"Sure," Kate answered with a smile.  
_

_Three months later, they were still dating, but something went wrong along the way. _

_Kate walked down the hallway of the apartment building Sawyer owned, where inevitably everyone who worked for him lived. She was smiling, which was unusual considering her job and the usual stone cold face that came with it. Kate was different, she had been for the past three months. If you didn't know her, you would say she was actually happy._

_She entered her pitch-black apartment and felt her stomach flip in ways that would cause even the toughest to vomit every meal they had that day. Kate managed to get to the kitchen sink before the contents of her stomach made their pleasant appearance. For weeks she had felt his way and despite the nagging in the back of her mind that told her the truth, she wasn't ready to accept it._

_Kate ran the water in the sink to wash the bile down the drain as she splashed some of the cold water onto her face. She walked towards the couch when suddenly the light flicked on. Sawyer sat on the couch with a smirk plastered on his face. Kate mentally kicked herself for forgetting to turn on the light the minute she walked in._

_"What are you doing here?" Kate asked in a frantic attempt to sound calmer than she actually was._

_"Well I was wondering why you've been invisible for the past few weeks, but I think I just got my answer." Sawyer threw a beige folder on the coffee table in front of the couch, "You have a new assignment." He stood from the couch and walked towards the door._

_"Right now?" Kate asked walking towards the coffee table._

_"Tomorrow morning," Sawyer answered coldly, "I should probably tell you, Katie, that if you don't complete the assignment, well lets just say there's going to be some severe consequences for both of you." Sawyer walked out of the apartment with a sinister smile plastered on his face._

_Kate was left in her living room with chills running down her spine as her heart pounded in her ear. She picked up the folder and looked at the picture of the target. There he was, smiling, and all Kate wanted to do was throw up again. She read the name even though she knew the photo, Jack Shephard._

_She wasn't going through with it, she knew that even before she opened the folder. She reached in her pocket for the ring Jack had given her when she met him for lunch. Tears clouded her vision at the thought of his death and the thought of how it would be her fault regardless of how he died. She could kill him or Sawyer could kill him, the point was, he was a dead man walking unless she did something about it. _

_She walked back to the kitchen and reached into one of the drawers and pulled out a hand gun. She grabbed her purse and held the gun behind the shoulder bag as she left her apartment. She stalked down the halls doing her best to remain silent._

_She saw the front door and was ready to exit the building when a fist collided with her face. She stumbled backwards while she tasted blood in her teeth. The next thing she knew, she was pinned up against the wall by Sawyer._

_"Going back to the doc?" Sawyer asked bitterly. Kate felt her heart pound in her chest as fear took over._

_Kate felt the pressure in her arm increase as Sawyer pressed his hand into her arm even harder. "You're hurting me," She said weakly as she felt, for the first time in her life, completely helpless._

_"You hurt me," Sawyer said his voice void of all emotion._

_"How?" Kate felt her anger begin to rise and the fear subside._

_"You're supposed to be with me," Sawyer shouted in her face._

_"You're insane." Sawyer smacked Kate hard across the face. The force of the blow temporarily blinded Kate but she recovered and spat the blood from her mouth onto Sawyer's face. Her heel collided with his ankle and once he released her arm, his face became her new punching bag. While he lay on the ground, unconscious and bleeding, Kate ran down the hall and out of the apartment building._

_She ran to her car and got inside. Once she regained her composure, she drove herself to Jack's apartment. She knocked on the door, the bruise already forming along her jaw from where she had been hit. Jack answered the door in a quarter of a second to find the love of his life bruised and crying at his door. He didn't know what to do but bring her inside his apartment and give her the comfort she needed._

_"What happened?" Jack finally asked after an hour of sobs filling his apartment._

_"I have to tell you something." Kate made him sit further away from her and she explained everything she did, everything she had done, and everything that had happened up to the time she stood outside his apartment. She spent the night in his apartment while he came to terms with the fact that he was on the list of several of the world's top assassins._

_The next morning, Kate walked into the living room to find Jack asleep on the couch. He woke up when she sat down next to him on the couch. He smiled at her but she couldn't smile back._

_"It's going to be okay, Kate," Jack said soothingly, even though he didn't believe it himself._

_"No it's not," Kate argued._

_"Yes, it is," Jack returned._

_"Jack, I'm pregnant." Kate sat back on the couch wanting so desperately to sink into it. Jack sat next to her, taking in the full weight of the situation._

_"When did you find..." Jack started but Kate cut him off._

_"I just took the test, I bought it on the way over here," Kate told him quickly._

_They sat in silence for what seemed like days until finally Kate knew who to call._

_"I'm going to make a call to my friend, Charlie, he can help." Kate walked away to use Jack's phone while Jack remained rooted to the couch. A few minutes later, Kate reemerged from the kitchen and sat back down next to Jack._

_"I have to run and you have to stay here," Kate said quietly._

_"What?" Jack asked, disbelief littered in his voice._

_"They won't kill you if I'm gone. Jack, I know you want to come with me or us or whatever, but you can't. I can't let anything happen to you. I'll be fine as long as you're safe and as long as I know you're safe. I love you, and I know I'm being selfish but I can't lose you, I just can't." Kate began to cry while Jack stood with a look of pure grief across his face._

_"You don't have to..." Jack couldn't finish his thought._

_"I have to go. There's no other way."_

_"There has to be," Jack said desperately, his mind searching for all other options._

_"No, I need to go. It's the only way to keep everyone safe." Kate took a deep breath and walked towards the door while Jack followed her._

_"Are you sure about that?" He was challenging her, in his own way, begging her to stay and to find another option where they could both disappear._

_"I'm sure," She said, her voice barely above a whisper. She shut the door as she left, leaving Jack alone and thinking she would be back shortly._

Evelyn listened to the story and watched as her mother almost broke down halfway through telling it.

"What happened after you left?" Evelyn asked as her mother took a deep breath and Evelyn knew she was counting to five.

"I went back to the apartment building, my apartment building, and they were waiting for me," Kate told Evelyn darkly.

"What?" Evelyn shifted her position in her seat.

"I got away, obviously, and I don't think they wanted to come after me for a while after that. I guess that's why I thought we were safe," Kate said, her voice dropping to a quiet whisper.

"Why didn't we ever go back to see him?" Evelyn asked her tone rising to become the slightest bit bitter.

"Because as long as I stayed away, he was safe. I didn't know where Sawyer or anybody else was, Ev. It was me and you and that's all I knew. I didn't want to leave him there, but I couldn't just pull him out of his life and expect him to be happy, or safe for that matter. I did what I thought was best and I'm sorry if it was a shitty decision, but I had to do it. I had to." Kate choked back the first sob that was to come from reliving the past. Evelyn felt the sting of guilt as she watched her mother cry. She leaned forward to hug her mother.

"It's alright, Mom. I get it," Evelyn said quietly, comforting her mother.

"I couldn't lose him, Ev," Kate managed to say through her sobs.

"I know." Evelyn held onto her mother until she stopped crying. Kate wiped away the tears while Evelyn tried to sort out everything she was feeling.

"Ready to go inside?" Kate asked and Evelyn nodded slowly. They exited the car and walked inside the motel.

The motel was standard and with nothing out of the ordinary. Evelyn appreciated the relative normalcy even if it was only the appearance. She knew, based on previous experience, they were here for a reason. The man behind the desk was enough reason to believe that. He has a scar along his eye but still he had a smile.

"Hey there, Kate. Jack's in room 815 with Aaron and Claire. It's amazing how big he got," The desk clerk greeted.

Kate stopped to talk to him while Evelyn walked towards the hallway, examining the motel.

"Hi, John. I couldn't believe it when I saw him," Kate said politely. John had helped her many times before when she was on jobs and when she was running away. At one point she spent an entire month in the motel while she figured out her next move to avoid Sawyer.

"Is that Evelyn?" John asked his gaze turning to the wandering teenager.

"Yeah, it is." Kate smiled and turned back to the conversation. John was the only person besides Jack, Charlie, and Claire to know about Evelyn. Evelyn had been born two months before Kate arrived at the motel to carefully plan her various moves.

"Something happened, didn't it?" John asked already knowing the reason behind their visit.

"Yeah, something did happen. I'll talk to you about it tomorrow, but right now I need to get some sleep. Come on Evelyn," Kate called and Evelyn followed her mother down the hallway to room 815.

"I'll see you in the morning then," John shouted after them before saying to himself, "It's about time they came to visit."

Evelyn walked into room 815 after her mother. It wasn't what one would call a normal motel room, it was a suite. There were three rooms, two of them had double beds and the last one had a bunk bed. Claire had her own room while Jack and Kate had their own. Evelyn walked to the last room with the bunk beds.

"Top one's yours," Aaron said as he sat on the bottom bunk.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Evelyn asked, her voice sounding as tired as she felt.

"I can't really sleep," Aaron said, his voice strained with anger.

"I understand," Evelyn said compassionately as she climbed the bunk bed and laid down on the top bunk, falling asleep instantly.. Aaron shut off the lights and laid down with his eyes open.

"Goodnight, Ev," Aaron said kindly despite his contempt for the present situation. He heard her even breathing and a smile crept onto his face even though he was angry at his dad.

Kate laid down beside Jack.

"Do you think we should let them share a room?" Jack asked, thinking about Evelyn and Aaron.

"There are bunk beds in that room, its impossible for them to do anything," Kate told him, doing her best not to laugh at Jack's concern.

"There's the floor," Jack said worried.

"They're fine, Jack. They are both good kids. You just need to calm down." Kate smiled.

"Yeah, you're right. Besides, they're what, fourteen and fifteen. We shouldn't start worrying until there's a reason to start worrying," Jack said calmly as he shut his eyes to go to sleep.

"Yeah, they haven't given us enough reason to worry," Kate agreed as she shut her eyes. Kate's eyes shot open as she remembered, and she walked out of the room and down the hall. She opened the door to Aaron and Evelyn's room.

Aaron looked at her as she walked in.

"Door stays open," She whispered and the minute she left, Aaron had to stifle his laughter behind his blanket. Kate laid back down beside Jack.

"Good plan," Jack said quietly before shutting his eyes.

"It's just better for all of us." Kate shut her eyes and fell asleep, content for the first time in years.

_ The only resolution  
And the only joy  
Is the faint spark of forgiveness  
In your eye_ _(Signal Fire by Snow Patrol)_

* * *

...to be continued... 

Hope this makes up for the wait.


	10. Keep Breathing

**_Chapter 10_**

**_Keep Breathing  
_**

Evelyn awoke to see the sunrise for the first time since she had hit her teens. The window in the bedroom served as the view to a world renewing itself as everything became gold once the sun hit the horizon. Evelyn watched the world become gold and as she saw the sky go from black to various shades of red, blue, purple, and gold, she smiled. As the sun rose over the Texas desert, Evelyn felt herself awaken to a new life. And in this new life, she felt complete for the first time in her life.

Aaron was awake for the sunrise as well, but he didn't see it the same way Evelyn did. It was breathtaking, sure, but he would rather see the clouds and lightning, he just wasn't feeling the beauty. After all, he was still stuck in his head, he was trapped in his painful memory, where his father was a liar and the phone call played over and over.

Evelyn carefully dropped to the floor from the top bunk and walked to the open bedroom door. Aaron sat up in the bottom bunk.

"Where are you going?" He asked, his voice hoarse and his eyes bloodshot from the lack of sleep.

"Bathroom." Evelyn's one worded answer was quick and while Aaron only half believed it, he wasn't going to be the one to stop her if she really had to go.

Evelyn walked to the bathroom and took her first shower in days maybe over a week, she wasn't exactly sure how long she had been gone for. The hot water and the soap felt good and if one had never experienced the event of running around for days at a time without a shower, one wouldn't quite understand the gratefulness that came with the invention of a shower.

Evelyn redressed herself in the same clothes she had been wearing and tied her hair up in a ponytail. She left the bathroom in roughly twenty minutes and instead of returning to her room, she walked out the suite's door to the hallway. The motel's hallway the empty except for herself, it was open to the air with a wall preventing someone from falling. Evelyn felt a light breeze hit her as she traveled down the hallway.

She walked down a flight of stairs to the first floor and down the open hallway that had no wall. She traveled the hallway to the lobby where, to her surprise, there was no one sitting at the desk. She didn't mind, she liked being alone. She walked down a flight of stairs to the basement where she found a stockade of guns and bombs. She walked further into the basement where she saw something under a sheet that looked like a car. She also saw various computers all running a different type of program. There were various tables that reminded her of aisles in a supermarket. They were littered with various paperwork, half finished weapons, finished weapons, and various types of things she couldn't identify. She made her way over to the car and pulled off the sheet slowly, staring at a black '67 _Ford Mustang _with a fastback.

Evelyn stared at the car with shock and amazement. She heard the basement door shut and the lights turned on.

"I knew you'd be down here sooner than your mother," John Locke said cheerfully as he stepped off the final stair. "I see you've discovered the car."

"It's nice," Evelyn said, her voice becoming smaller than it had been before.

"I know that's true. I also know that you think it's much more than nice," John said, smirking with the knowledge only Evelyn and her mother knew.

"It's just a car," Evelyn said quietly before stealing a glance at the car.

"Of course it is, but not to you. We can keep this game going for a while or I can just flat out tell you what you know I already know," John told Evelyn flatly, giving up.

"What do you know?" Evelyn asked, her voice becoming stronger in her newly discovered comfort.

"Two years ago you drove your mother's car around the supermarket while she was buying groceries. Then about a year later you started driving other cars that weren't yours or your mother's. Then a month after that, you started racing said cars and you won a shit load of money for it. And I have to say, I'm impressed but it wasn't all that surprising, at least not to me." John sat on a chair behind one of the tables and he began to tinker with one of the unfinished guns lying in pieces on the top.

"How do you know all of that?" Evelyn asked, she wasn't denying her accomplishments, but she wondered how he knew.

"Because you're just like your mother. And I'm a genius, hence all of this." He indicated the various pieces of equipment.

"How fast does it go?" Evelyn asked, referring to the car. Her hand twitched a little at the thought of getting behind the wheel, but she knew she wasn't going to be any time soon, not around her parents. She was a good driver, hell, she was only fourteen and already she surpassed most adults in skill. However, she was underage and by common law, she was technically joyriding and she could have gone to jail.

"0 to 100 in ten seconds, I messed around with it a bit." John smiled, taking pride in his achievement.

"Did you tell my mom?" Evelyn asked, worried she was going to get into trouble.

"No, but I wouldn't be surprised if she knew already." John moved on to another piece of equipment, a bomb he had been perfecting for years.

"What? How?" Evelyn forgot completely about the car, despite the fact she had just found the keys and where they were hanging on the wall.

"She's not stupid Evelyn. It isn't that difficult to figure out when you're just like her," John said, a laugh written into his words.

"Did she do that same thing?" Evelyn asked, wondering where the parallels began and ended.

"Right around your age too, but that's a different story." John smiled.

"How do you know all of this?" Evelyn was frozen in her spot and she was beginning to wonder when her mother would be awake.

"Because she called me when she thought you were joyriding and she told me how she used to do it, so I tracked you and told her everything I knew, which is exactly what I just told you," John explained easily as he worked on the bomb.

"She knows, I am so fucking dead." Evelyn ran up the stairs forgetting all about her desire to steal the car and just keep driving. She walked quickly down the hallway and up another flight of stairs. She walked down the hallway towards the room when she heard the screech of tires outside. In a row, five black cars were lined up outside the motel as Evelyn stopped in her tracks.

Evelyn watched from the second floor hallway as a man with long, shaggy, blonde hair stepped out of one of the vehicles with sunglasses, a black suit, and a hand gun. Ten other people followed suit, including Danny, Tom, Juliet, and Charlie. Charlie didn't carry a weapon, he stood to the side, his shirt still stained with the blood from the punch Jack had given him. Evelyn could make it all out from the hallway where she watched from the wall.

It didn't take them very long to notice her staring straight at them.

"Sawyer, she's in the hallway," Juliet said in an informative voice.

He looked up at Kate's daughter and watched as she noticed them and ran down the hallway.

"So much for the element of surprise," Sawyer said with a smirk and signaled for the group to tear up the motel to get Evelyn back and make Kate pay.

Evelyn raced down the hallway to the room where everyone remained asleep, except for Aaron. He stood in front of the suite door, pulling on a sweatshirt as he prepared to leave.

"Where the hell have you been?" Aaron asked in a quietly scolding voice. "Do you have any idea what it's like to stall to your mother?"

"She's awake?" Evelyn's asked, her minor concern for the discovery never even appearing.

"Yeah she..." Aaron trailed off as Evelyn walked towards her mother's bedroom. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Aaron followed her, forgetting about the fact that he had been mad and remembering why he had made sure she wasn't found out. He cared about her. Even when he had no idea what the hell she was doing, he cared.

Evelyn ran into the bedroom to find her father still asleep and her mother sitting on the edge of the bed pulling shoes on.

"Where have you been?" Kate knew Evelyn hadn't been in the bathroom, she knew Aaron had been lying when he told her where Evelyn was. Her slight anger and worry faded when she saw Evelyn's frazzled features. "What's wrong?"

"They're all here, right now," Evelyn choked out through her fear.

"Wait, who are you talking about?"

"Them, the black cars, Sawyer, Juliet, Charlie!" Evelyn shouted and Kate watched as Evelyn's hand shook in fear.

Jack woke up and heard the shout of Charlie's name. He stood up from bed and pulled a shirt over his head. He had slept in his jeans and began to lace up the sneakers that had been lying on the floor.

"I'm going to kill that little prick," Jack threatened leaving the bedroom with Kate, Aaron, and Evelyn following him.

"Jack, you can't! He's not alone and it's still Charlie, you can't kill the man who tried to help us," Kate reasoned.

"Yeah, before he almost killed us," Jack replied as Claire exited her bedroom, also fully dressed.

"He's here?" She asked quietly, her heartache visible in both herself and Aaron.

"Yeah, mum, he's here with them," Aaron said in a muffled whisper.

"We need to leave, before they get inside," Kate said delicately as Jack seemed to calm down.

"Then let's go," Claire said quietly following Jack and Kate to the door.

The two families looked at the line of black cars and began to race down the hallway when the sound of a gunshot stopped them in their tracks. Aaron felt a sharp pain to his shoulder as the bullet hit him. Evelyn had ducked beside him, but he hadn't gotten out of the way fast enough.

"Oh my God!" Evelyn shouted as she saw the blood begin to seep through his sweatshirt. More gunshots rang through the hallway and out into the open air. Jack helped Aaron up, who was crying in pain. Claire felt the shock wave that was a mother's fear at her son dealing with the prospect of death.

Claire followed Jack quickly back into the room. Aaron felt the warm blood trail down his arm and drip onto the floor as he was assisted into the room. Evelyn was frozen in time as he mother pulled her back to the room.

They were trapped in the suite that had housed them for only a night. Jack applied pressure to Aaron's wound while he asked Claire for the supplies they had taken with them the night Evelyn had needed stitches. Evelyn looked at her hand and ran her finger over the sewn wound. Jack removed the bullet while Aaron screamed in pain during the process.

Kate walked down the hallway back into the bedroom and emerged with a gun she had hidden years ago under the bed in a fire proof box. She loaded it and waited.

"Is he going to be okay?" Kate asked as Jack did his best to sew up the bullet wound and apply gauze. He did what he could and hoped Aaron wouldn't succumb to an infection.

"I think so, but he needs to go to the hospital," Jack told Kate as he ran his hand over his hair.

"We'll take him once we get out of here," Kate said airily. She took a deep breath and opened the door quickly, she fired two shots before the body of one of Sawyer's agents fell to the ground.

"Come on," Jack pulled Aaron's good arm and pushed him out of the motel room while Claire quickly followed, standing close to her son. Evelyn had to be assisted out of motel room as well. Her mother held her arm and led her into the stairwell. The group stopped in the stairwell and took a deep breath.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Jack asked, taking another breath.

"I don't know," Kate admitted.

"Well you better fucking figure it out!" Evelyn shouted from the corner of the stairwell.

"Evelyn you have to calm down right now," Kate pleaded, the tension slowly easing to a stress that was too harsh to think in.

"Oh yeah, I'll calm down. Ten fucking people come to kill us and I'll just calm down. Listen, how about I won't worry until one of them is shooting at us? Oh wait, that already happened!" Evelyn shouted as the sound of more gun shots rang through their ears and became closer.

The group stared in horror as the sound of shoes hitting the floor below them grew closer. Kate stepped forward and aimed the gun at the entrance way to the stairs. The sound was right below them as John Locke entered the stair well to the relief of everyone.

"Come on," He said as he held a large automatic rifle. Everyone followed him down the hallway while they searched for agents that could have been running around. They made their way to the lobby and John checked around the corner before he crossed the hallway to the stairs that led to the basement. Jack followed suit while Claire was right behind him. The sound of voices approaching met the remaining three's ears quickly. Kate helped Aaron over the Lobby desk while Evelyn managed on her own.

The voices were right above them in under a minute. Juliet and Sawyer were talking directly above the desk.

"Where's Locke?" Sawyer asked.

"He doesn't seem to be here," Juliet informed him.

"Typical. Has anyone located the kids?" Sawyer asked, placing a hand on the desk.

"No, they haven't. I thought you weren't going to take Pace's son, wasn't that what you promised him?" Juliet asked, her eyes spelling out all the confusion she couldn't indicate in her voice.

"That's what I told Pace but to be honest, Aaron would be just as much an asset as Evelyn. Has anyone found Austen or Shephard yet?" Sawyer asked, his tone changing from informative to a dark threatening one.

"No," Juliet answered simply.

Evelyn felt Aaron shudder from his own fear. She grabbed his hand tightly in attempt to calm him and herself down. She had shut her eyes the minute the voices were over head and they remained closed. Kate's grip on the gun grew tighter as the conversation continued while Aaron listened with his hand in Evelyn's.

"Tell everyone to keep looking, I'm going back to the warehouse. Tell everyone, they don't come back unless they have the kids," Sawyer informed Juliet before walking out of the lobby and to one of the cars.

"Yes sir," Juliet said as he walked away. She waited a minute before she turned down the opposite hallway and walked away.

Kate waited a few minutes before peering over the desk.

"It's fine, come on." She helped Evelyn and Aaron out from under the desk and back over it onto the lobby floor. The trio walked down the stairs to the basement. Jack, Claire, and John were waiting with worried expressions on their face.

"We heard them so we hid," Kate told all three of them.

"We heard them too," John said, pressing a button on one of the computers where the security image of the lobby appeared. Kate nodded while Aaron walked over to his mother and stood close to her. Evelyn stood at more of a distance while her father walked over to her and stood next to her, keeping her at a reaching distance, in case something happened.

"What do we do now?" Jack asked quietly.

Kate shook her head, "I don't know."

_ I want to wake up kicking and screaming  
I want to wake up kicking and screaming  
I want to know that my heart's still beating  
It's beating, I'm bleeding - "Awakening" by Switchfoot  
_

* * *

_...to be continued...  
_


	11. In Our Lives

**_Chapter 11_**

**_In Our Lives  
_**

Juliet ordered Sawyer's employees around as an assistant manager would while the manager wasn't around. She told them to keep looking, despite the fact she had given up an hour after they drove to the motel. Beds were turned over while closets were shot with bullets, yet no life other then their own could be found.

Charlie kept to himself, worried more for his family than what he was doing there. Sawyer had picked him up at the airport, making sure he stood beside them to ensure Claire's and Aaron's safety. He was sure they were safe as long as he kept out of the way. He just wanted to take them home and get them away from all the violence and all the lies. He never wanted to bring this upon them, that was why he had stayed hidden, but then Kate brought everything back and he could do nothing but help out to keep his family together. He didn't want Aaron working for Sawyer or becoming a lackey like his father, he wanted Aaron to become something he wanted and not something he was born into. Charlie was sure they were safe, or at least, were going to be, only he didn't know Sawyer was planning on taking Aaron as well.

Charlie cared about his family, it was the source of his greatest courage and his greatest weakness; Sawyer was just the one to exploit it to suit his own needs. He needed more employees, better employees, and who better than kids who were angry at their parents. They were easy recruits, easy to brainwash into his service, easy to train, easy to use as assassins, and easy to use to gain more recruits. He would be the top in his line of work, he would make millions and the kids would be paid less than his current employees. Of course he would keep his top employees around to deal with the kids, Juliet would easily teach them everything she knew.

The money wasn't his only joy in his plan. Sawyer knew the pain it would cause Kate, Jack, Claire, and Charlie. He wanted them all to pay because they knew they couldn't get out. They knew double-crossing him would indict a hit on all of their lives. Claire and Jack had really done him no wrong, but they were dead by association. He wouldn't kill them right away, he would let them see what happened to their children in about five years time, when the children would no longer think entirely for themselves. Then he would send the children on the parents and let them suffer while he took the place as their caretaker and father. It would be the ultimate revenge and he was all about the ultimate revenge, any pain he could cause he would and he intended to do it with full force.

And Charlie watched Juliet order around the various people with guns thinking everything would be alright in the end, at least for his wife and son.

Evelyn walked around the basement where she found her way back over to the car she had been gazing at before. She looked at the way the car was facing and the thin wall before it. Her eyes traveled from the wooden wall back to the car that went from 0 to 100 mph in ten seconds. For the first time, she had a well thought out plan. Maybe it wasn't completely thought out, but it was just like running away from the warehouse, it would work if she made it work.

Aaron strayed over to where she was standing while the adults were in the center of the basement discussing their best plan of action.

"What are you looking at?" He stared straight at where she was standing. He noticed the sunlight shine through the panels of wood as the sun appeared from behind a cloud and looked at the car behind them.

"I have an idea," Evelyn said quietly, her voice full of determination as she turned around to find the keys. She grabbed them from the nail they were hanging off of and opened the car door as no one took notice besides Aaron.

"Can you drive?" Aaron asked as he found his way into the backseat.

Evelyn turned around, a genuine smile on her face, "A hell of a lot better than my mom."

She leaned out of the open door and shouted at her mother.

"Mom," Evelyn tried, but she was ignored.

Her mother continued her attempt to persuade John into going upstairs and taking out all of them. Jack had already agreed and Claire was planning on staying downstairs, but Locke would not be swayed. However, he was the only one to notice Evelyn and Aaron by the car.

"Mom," Evelyn tried again, this time slamming the car door shut.

"What?" Kate asked turning to see the car for the first time. She hadn't bothered to walk that far into the basement.

"I have a way out," Evelyn said loudly as her voice carried up the stairs of the basement and to the lobby where Juliet stood.

"Evelyn, get out of the car," Kate ordered, though she was considering the way out.

"No, I'm sorry Mom, but I was listening to your plan and it sucks. You're going to get yourself killed. This is much safer, aside from the whole crashing through a wall thing," Evelyn tried to explain while the keys dangled in the ignition, ready to be turned.

"Does she know how to drive?" Jack asked, his voice sounding concerned and disbelieving at the same time.

"Yeah, she knows how to, but she's not going to right now," Kate told Jack quietly as the door was kicked open by one of two men.

"Holy shit!" Aaron shouted as he heard the door break down.

"Get in the fucking car!" Jack shouted as Claire ran towards it and managed to get herself in the backseat while Jack made his way into the backseat as well.

There was only one seat left, the passenger seat, which left one person behind.

"John, I can't leave you here," Kate tried to persuade him to take the seat.

"I'll be fine, get out of here," John told her as he fired the first of many bullets at the intruders.

Kate ran into the passenger seat while Evelyn shut her door and started the car. The sound of guns firing met all of their ears loudly as Jack turned around to see John Locke shot multiple times. Evelyn's foot slammed on the gas and they rocketed through the wall, shattering the thin wood into a million pieces.

Juliet made her way down the stairs after she heard the car speed off. She sent a car in their direction while they got rid of John Locke's body and his infamous motel.

The building burned to the ground while Juliet was driven to the warehouse by Ben.

Evelyn kept her foot on the gas long after the motel was in the distance. She followed back roads where no other cars would be located and began to slow down. Everyone in the car was breathing heavily from the fear and shock, everyone besides herself. She had calmed down the minute her foot hit the gas pedal. She had saved everyone in the car and her worst fear had not caught up with her, the inability to save lives. She had succeeded and she had no reason to be afraid anymore.

It was in the twenty minutes she slowed down to fifty that the car Juliet sent caught up to them. No one saw the car coming, not Evelyn or Kate, who's reaction time was a lot quicker than the average human being, not Jack, no one saw it coming. The car tapped the tail end of Evelyn's car before she swerved and lost control of the car.

By the time it stopped, it was crashed into a tree and both Evelyn and her mother were unconscious. Jack, Aaron and Claire has various scratches and bruises from the shattered windshield, but they were awake. The other car screeched to a halt and the sounds of doors opening and shutting met the ears of those that were awake.

Pickett pulled Evelyn from the car quickly while Jack tried his best to stop them. He couldn't get out of the car until the seat was pushed back and Aaron was grabbed by Tom.

Jack was out of his seat and out of the car quickly. Once on the outside he saw Danny returning after dropping Evelyn in the backseat. Jack punched Danny Pickett as hard as he possibly could, but Danny recovered quickly, punching Jack harder and managing a few swift kicks to the torso and head. Claire pulled herself out of the car and ran at Danny before he punched her as well. Claire was unconscious quickly, while Aaron shouted as Tom shoved him in the car and knocked him out.

Danny would have finished Jack off had Tom not stopped him.

"Danny, we got to get out of here," Tom shouted, pulling Danny from a bleeding Jack. Danny followed Tom reluctantly and sat in the passenger seat as Tom drove the car away from the scene and along the dirt back road.

Jack pulled himself up as he spat a few drops of the blood on the dirt. He pulled Kate out of the car despite his pain and placed her beside Claire. He checked them both over for any signs of a concussion, or as much as he could tell while they were knocked out and he was in pain. He sat down in the dirt, wondering what they were going to do and who could help them now as he continued to spit blood from his mouth.

A few hours later, Evelyn felt the pain in her head and back as her eyes remained closed, despite the fact she was awake. She felt the room shake and her head spin as the nausea hit. She opened her eyes to a lit bathroom where she was handcuffed to a handrail. She vomited into the toilet directly in front of her and wiped her mouth once the bile had left her system.

The shaking startled her again as she became more aware with the pain in her back from the hours of sleeping upright. She looked at the hand she could see and found a cast on her wrist and hand. She couldn't see the hand that was cuffed to the rail, but she felt the fresh bandage and gauze over her stitches. The bathroom shook again with movement and she remembered the collision.

Her eyes welled with tears as she felt the same utter helplessness she had the first time she was in this situation. She had ran away, sure, but now she was back and it was far worse than before. It was worse because she knew her captors, she knew her parents and she wanted to go back now more than ever. She wanted rescue, she wanted to continue running with her parents and her friend. She wanted to get away. She began to sob uncontrollably in the shaking bathroom located in some transportation device she wasn't sure of.

Aaron woke up around the same time but in a completely different situation. He looked into the eyes of Sawyer while he was handcuffed to a seat beside the window of a moving train. He sat in the seat itself, while his arms were cuffed to the bars holding the seat in place. Sawyer sat opposite him, though he was granted the gift of movement of his hands. Aaron felt a fear he had never known.

"Good, you're awake," Sawyer said in a mock greeting tone.

"What happened?" Aaron asked, his voice shaky from fear and nausea.

"That's not important, what is important is that you answer a few of my questions." Sawyer shifted in his seat, "I bet you hate your father, right?"

"No," Aaron answered quietly.

"You don't?" Sawyer was literally shocked to his core, which was quite an achievement.

"I love my father. I hate what he did, but I don't hate him," Aaron explained causing Sawyer to become frustrated with the actual outcome over what he wanted to happen.

"Fine," Sawyer told him angrily, standing from his seat and walking over to the door of the cabin. "Bring him in," Sawyer told Juliet and in stepped Charlie who laid eyes on his captured son for the first time since the promise of no harm.

"Aaron!" Charlie shouted trying to get to his son. Aaron did his best to turn around and see his father but Charlie was stopped by one of two guards who followed him inside the car.

"Dad?" Aaron asked aloud when he could no longer see Charlie.

"You see that Aaron, he's still with us because he doesn't care. He never cared, at least, not like I care," Sawyer told Aaron, trying to convince the boy to trust him.

"You promised you wouldn't hurt him." Charlie struggled as he was pinned against a wall.

"Looks like I broke my promise," Sawyer whispered sinisterly beside Charlie. "I'm sorry Charlie, but Aaron and I have some talking to do." Sawyer dismissed the guards as Charlie was pulled away.

"Don't listen to him Aaron! He's a liar, he lied to me and he's lying to you. I did this to keep you and your mother safe, that's all I ever wanted, was to keep you safe." Charlie's voice died away as the door was shut and Aaron turned back around in his seat, feeling the pain in his wrists from where the metal had begun cutting into his skin as he struggled to see his father.

Sawyer sat down in the seat across Aaron, smirking, "You're very grown up for your age."

"Right now, I kind of have to be," Aaron said dangerously, his voice dropping a few octaves.

Sawyer got the message behind the threatening tone and sighed, "Aaron, you Evelyn and I are going to have a hell of a time." Sawyer stood from his chair and walked to another car. Aaron let out a deep breath and sunk as deeply as he could into the chair while the train car rocked. He wanted to know where Evelyn was but there was no way to tell when he was trapped to a chair on a moving train going somewhere God only knew.

Aaron was trapped and he understood entirely what Evelyn had felt the first time she was trapped. Juliet returned to the car and sat in the seat once previously occupied by her boss and mentor.

"Are you here to watch me?" Aaron asked, his voice tainted with loss and underlying threats.

"I'm here to talk to you, Aaron, not to watch you," Juliet's tone switched from the cold one she used with Sawyer, to the friendly one she had used with Evelyn.

"I'm not answering any questions," Aaron told her sternly as his hands dropped to his knees.

"Fine, then I'll talk and you can listen to everything I have to say," Juliet told him firmly. "You and Evelyn are going to be taken off this train once we reach LA. Once off the train, you'll be taken directly to a car and then taken to a private facility where you're going to be living until you join the company and once you do that, you will be monitored closely to check on your loyalties. From now on, this is your life Aaron Pace and you should get used to talking." Juliet stood from the chair and walked to another chair in the train car.

Aaron felt the world crash around him. This would be his life, forever? He couldn't let it happen, not to himself, but especially not to Evelyn. They had to do something, they needed a plan, or at least, he needed someone to come rescue them.

The train moved on towards LA with Aaron trapped in one of the cars and Evelyn trapped in one of the bathrooms. Though separate, they both wished for rescue and the safety of the other.

_ And the risk that might break you  
Is the one that would save  
A life you don't live is still lost  
_

_ So stand on the edge with me  
Hold back your fear and see  
Nothing is real till it's gone - Before It's Too Late by The Goo Goo Dolls  
_

* * *

_...to be continued... _


	12. Who Will Save Us Now?

**_Chapter 12_**

**_Who Will Save Us Now?  
_**

Evelyn managed to regain a piece of her former self as the minutes turned into hours and she remained trapped. After nearly two hours, her wrist began to ache and she was feeling every bruise she had gained from the crash. Sitting on the bathroom floor wasn't helping anything and it wasn't until three hours passed that she was ready to cry out in pain. She didn't, and nearly five minutes later, someone slid open the door to check on her.

It was Sawyer, the car shook as he took a seat across from her, sitting on the floor as well. He slid the door shut while Evelyn watched, the fear she would die any second causing her heart to race in her chest.

"Evelyn, I had no idea you could drive a car," Sawyer said, the shock in his tone sounding genuine.

"Why am I here?" Evelyn asked angrily, she didn't want the small talk, she didn't want him to try to be her friend because he wasn't.

"I like that about you, you don't waste time. You want the answers and I promise, you'll get them, but right now, I want answers from you." Sawyer shifted on the floor and Evelyn squinted her eyes defiantly.

"I'm not giving you any answers," Evelyn said, the strength of her voice directly opposite of the pounding blood in her ears.

"Evelyn, you are going to answer every question I ask you, whether you want to or not." At that moment, Sawyer sprung and it took a minute of unsuccessful struggling before Evelyn felt the sting of a needle in her neck.

He injected her with some type of drug that took effect almost instantly. Evelyn's world became fuzzy and she couldn't control the words that came out of her mouth with each question.

"Let's start with something simple, what are your parents' names?"

"Kate Austen and Jack Shephard," Evelyn answered instantaneously in a robotic tone.

"Where did you grow up?" Sawyer asked, mentally taking note of every answer.

"I don't know, lots of places, we moved a lot." Evelyn was beginning to drift in and out of a sleep she couldn't comprehend.

"How did you find out about your mother's life?" Sawyer asked as Evelyn's eyes drooped before she opened them again.

"From Juliet and then I heard the entire story from my Mom. I asked her and she told me," Evelyn shared quietly, her voice dropping to a tired mumble.

"Did she tell you about your dad?"

"Yeah, she told me he was a doctor, or is a doctor, and that she had to leave because she loved him and she didn't want him to die. I'm really tired," Evelyn said, her voice whispering the last three words.

"It's an effect of the drug, what else did she tell you?" Sawyer asked, keeping the conversation going despite Evelyn's drowsiness.

"She told me she ran away after she tried to kill everyone and then she moved around. She told me you were a bad person and I think you need to die, and I think she's going to do it." Evelyn felt exhausted, all she wanted to do was sleep but the nagging bug in the back of her head kept asking her questions. She didn't know where she was or who she was, all she knew were the answers pouring out of her mouth.

"When you were younger, did she ever try to train you?" Sawyer asked, hoping Evelyn was at least slightly knowledgeable in the art of combat.

"No, but one time I beat up someone in my school and she didn't ground me for it," Evelyn said, her voice taking a tone of reverie as she recalled the memory.

"So you have potential then," Sawyer said quietly to himself, Evelyn didn't even notice as her eyes quietly began to shut.

"I'm going to sleep now," Evelyn told herself or really the voice in her head.

"Why were you at the motel?" Sawyer asked and Evelyn lifted her head to respond.

"Mom said we needed to go there. Mr. Locke was going to help everyone because Charlie betrayed us. John let us stay there, he gave me the car." Evelyn's exhaustion began to take an even greater hold on her.

"How did you know how to drive a car?" Sawyer asked, wondering if he could put her talents to use.

"I watched my Mom drive and then I just started teaching myself. I used to hang out at a garage in Nevada when I skipped school," Evelyn explained, sharing the story as if it was just that, a story and not her life.

"I think I have enough information about you, thank you," Sawyer said politely standing up.

"What was this for?" Evelyn asked, staring into space.

"This was an interview and I think we have a place for you." Sawyer laughed to himself.

"Okay," Evelyn said as her eyes began to close once again.

"Oh, one more thing, how do you feel about Aaron Pace?" Sawyer asked, using any and all information to find a weakness he could use should she ever try to leave his business.

"I don't know," Evelyn admitted, to both herself and Sawyer.

"You can sleep now," Sawyer said as he left the room and Evelyn did just that.

Sawyer stepped out of the bathroom and shut the door behind him while Danny was waiting for him.

"How did it go?" Danny Pickett asked, wondering if they would be breaking in a new recruit.

"We could use her, but it's not going to be easy," Sawyer admitted.

"What about Aaron Pace?" Pickett asked, the same tone in his question as there had been before.

"He won't be as difficult to break as long as he doesn't see her. If they talk or spend even a second in the same room before they've broken, they won't break. Think of them as each other's reinforcement, without the other they're weaker and more vulnerable," Sawyer explained a smirk on his face.

"What do we do if they won't break?" Danny was concerned the plan wouldn't work.

"They'll break, everyone breaks, it's just a matter of time." Sawyer walked down the hallway and into the car where Aaron was sitting. Juliet walked over to Sawyer while Danny took a seat across from Aaron.

"Keep an eye on her, and try talking her into a sense of comfort when she wakes up. She's going to be disoriented but she's not going to be easy to handle. You need to watch her and make sure she doesn't find a way to run, especially when we come to a stop." Juliet nodded and went to the bathroom, where she sat across from Evelyn, and watched as the fourteen-year-old slept off the drug she had been injected with.

Sawyer turned to Tom, who had entered the car, after Juliet left.

"What should we do with Charlie?" Tom asked and Sawyer thought for a minute.

"Kick him off," Sawyer ordered and Tom did what he was told.

Hours passed before Kate and Claire were awake, but once they were Jack told them everything. Kate didn't cry, she just walked away from the scene with Jack and an emotionally shattered Claire in tow. They walked to a gas station where the three sat down and Kate tried to find a way to rescue the kids.

They stole a car and began to drive, where they were going, no one knew. Kate was determined to find them and if she had to search the ends of the earth, she would.

While they drove, they saw a badly beaten man walking along the highway. It took a second before they realized it was Charlie. They stopped the car directly in front of him and stepped out.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked, sounding somewhat relived and worried at the same time.

"I want to know where the kids are," Jack said angrily as he gripped Charlie's collar.

"They're on a train heading to Los Angeles," Charlie told them, bracing himself for a fist.

"Charlie, how could you do this?" Claire asked, finally speaking since the incident.

"I didn't want them to take Aaron, I was only trying to stop them from taking him. He told me if I gave you guys up we would be safe. I was thinking about my family, that's all I wanted. I just wanted to keep them safe," Charlie explained, his voice cracking halfway through.

"Jack, please, just leave him alone," Kate said quietly, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack let go of Charlie and backed away.

"I'm so sorry, I never wanted any of this to happen," Charlie said sympathetically.

"You didn't want this to happen to you, you didn't care about anyone else," Jack said angrily, walking towards the car.

"It doesn't matter now, because he took my son anyway and now we have to do something. I can't just let it happen, not after all I did to try to keep him safe. You can be angry at me, but the truth is you would have done the same thing for Evelyn if you had the opportunity." Charlie stood still, while Claire walked towards the love of her life.

Jack knew Charlie was right, he was angry but he would have done the same thing, any father would have. Hell, he was sure, Kate would have too. Jack turned around, "Let's just go, every minute we waste is another minute closer to L.A. for Sawyer," Jack stated quietly, silently accepting Charlie's apology.

Kate drove the car, the quiet determination written on her features. As they drove along the road, they saw a train beside them. Charlie turned to look at the train and noticed the same painted frame with no passengers. It was then that he managed to see Aaron in the window.

"That's the train," Charlie stated loudly and Kate turned to look at it. Before the action could register, the car was shifted forcefully directly next to the train. They weren't on the tracks, but they were pretty damn close to going under the train.

"Take the wheel," Kate said to Jack as they awkwardly shifted places and Kate opened the passenger door. Jack slowed down the car as Kate gripped the bar of the last car. She was on the back of the train while Jack kept the car next to her. She opened the caboose door and was inside the train, but Jack wasn't leaving the side of the train.

Kate quietly walked down the car where no one resided, before she entered the next car. Jack watched as he saw Ben walk down the car towards the one Kate was in. Kate heard the door slide open and she reacted as she saw Ben enter the car. She kicked him in the head, causing him to black out. A gun clattered to the floor and Kate grabbed it.

She walked into the next car of the train while Jack sped up the car he was driving. He managed to get the car ahead of the train entirely before pulling the car onto the tracks and parking it. Claire and Charlie piled out of the car with Jack right behind them, he left the car running, so the conductor would see it.

"I hope he stops," Claire said quietly.

"Yeah, otherwise, Kate's on her own," Charlie said flatly. The train approached and the trio shut their eyes as they heard screeching brakes. The train shuddered to a quick stop, throwing everyone inside off balance.

Evelyn felt the harsh shake as she was slammed against the wall, waking her up from her drug induced sleep. Juliet was on her feet after the stop, she left the bathroom quickly to be pistol whipped by Kate. The door was left open and Kate caught a glimpse of Evelyn's shoes in the light.

Kate walked into the bathroom to find Evelyn.

"Mom?" Evelyn asked, as Kate stepped further into the bathroom.

"Hey, honey, look I'm going to get you out of here. I just need to find the key," Kate said quietly, doing her best to look for the key.

"I didn't see it, where's Aaron?" Evelyn asked as she tried to stand, but couldn't due to the handcuffs.

"I don't know, hang on a second." Kate left the room quickly and returned with the key Juliet had been holding.

Kate unlocked Evelyn from the handcuff and Evelyn shakily stood on her feet. Her wrist had a red mark from the cuffs and her other arm was wrapped in a cast, which also began to feel uncomfortable. Evelyn felt every ache and pain she hadn't been able to feel while she was sleep.

"Why did the train stop?" Evelyn asked, as she followed her mother out into the car.

"I think your father had a plan," Kate informed her daughter as they walked up to the door to the next car and heard more people board the train. "Back up, back up," Kate ordered Evelyn and Evelyn stepped aside while the door burst open and Kate shot Tom in the leg.

The gun shot rang through the train and Tom writhed on the floor in pain.

"Come on," Kate told Evelyn and she followed her mother closely.

Sawyer heard the gun shot and Danny stepped closer to the man he worked for. Sawyer unlocked Aaron and grabbed the teenager. He gripped Aaron's shoulder and placed a gun to Aaron's back. He led Aaron to the conductor where Sawyer shot the man at point blank range. The conductor fell to the floor and Sawyer started the engine again, causing the train to lurch forward.

Jack, Charlie, and Claire heard the screech of metal from the train they had boarded. Jack and Charlie were rushing to get to the front of the train while Claire stood behind them both.

Kate entered the car where Aaron had been held captive but only Danny stood in that room. He fired two shots and Kate pulled Evelyn to the floor. Evelyn landed on her broken arm and winced in pain as the bullets missed them.

Kate ducked behind one of the seats and fired quickly, hitting Danny directly between the eyes. He was dead instantly. Evelyn stood up after she heard the body drop.

"Are you alright?" Kate asked her daughter.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Evelyn answered as she silently rubbed the cast over her broken bone.

The door slid open and Jack walked in followed by Charlie and Claire.

"Claire, can you take Evelyn to the back of the train?" Kate asked, knowing full well, neither person wanted to see what was going to happen next.

"Yeah, come on, Evelyn," Claire said in a comforting tone, leading Evelyn to the end of the train where no real harm could take place.

They waited a few seconds before the door opened and Sawyer threw Aaron on the floor before firing at the three of them. All three ducked behind various seats. Sawyer laughed.

"You're all such cowards," Sawyer said as he laughed and took a step forward, placing his foot on Aaron's back. Sawyer cocked the gun and aimed it at Aaron's head. "Olly olly oxen free!" Sawyer shouted as Charlie jumped up from his hiding space.

"Don't shoot him!" Charlie stepped out from behind the seat with his hands in the air. Sawyer kept the gun aimed at Aaron's head, ensuring his own safety.

The door slid open and Juliet walked into the room pushing Evelyn on the floor, while Ben pushed Claire into the car. Juliet cocked her own gun and watched as Jack and Kate stood up from their own hiding places.

"Tried to get away?" Sawyer questioned Juliet.

"They failed," Juliet said coldly as she wiped a line of blood from her mouth.

_ And the vultures begin  
Their slow circling.  
The dogs lick their teeth,  
Bright, white, and gleaming - The First of the Century by Straylight Run_

* * *

_...to be continued..._


	13. White Doves

**_Chapter Thirteen_**

**_White Doves  
_**

"Get up!" Sawyer shouted at Aaron as he stood from the floor, always aware of the gun pressing into his head. Juliet pulled Evelyn off the floor and pushed her beside Aaron, her gun aimed at Evelyn's head. Nobody could move, nobody could think. They just stared as their enemies exploited their children's mortality, not in action, but in thought.

"Ben, take Katie's gun," Sawyer ordered and the scrawny, haunting man, quietly took the gun from Kate. He never wanted things to come to this, all he needed was a job, and to be quite honest, there weren't exactly a lot of people looking to hire a paid killer.

"Aim it at her," Sawyer ordered and again, Ben followed the directions.

Sawyer laughed, it was a shallow, infuriating, and bone chilling laugh. Evelyn wanted to smack him in the face and she was sure Aaron wasn't far from that point. However, Evelyn would refrain from it considering there was a gun ready to blow her brains out at any moment.

"What are you going to do now, Katie? It's over, there's no way you can win now," Sawyer said, the laugh over powering the force of his words.

Kate said nothing, standing tall even when facing the barrel of a gun. Jack, on the other hand, stood worrying that everyone he held close to him would die.

Charlie was stoic in his expression, his silent worry turning into silent depression having realized he caused all that was occurring.

Claire was ready to begin sobbing any minute. She was on the verge of a breakdown, as any mother would be, but faced with the circumstances, it was a shock to everyone when she hadn't curled up into a ball the minute she saw the gun.

The tense silence began as Evelyn felt the gun press against the back of her head, ready for the imminent explosion of a bullet, gun powder, and all forms of necessary body matter.

"I want you both to see this and keep it burned in your memories for the rest of your life," Sawyer uttered quietly to Evelyn and Aaron. "Ben, kill her," Sawyer said, his voice chilling Aaron's bones so much, he was sure they were frozen solid.

Evelyn felt her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach as all time slowed down and she was the only one who was able to tell. Ben looked at Sawyer and all Sawyer said was, "now". Ben turned back, cocked the gun so quickly, even in slow motion, Evelyn almost missed the sound.

Evelyn was frozen to the spot as the gun shot rang out and Jack rushed to get in between the bullet and the woman whom he loved. Evelyn watched, horrified, as the bullet flew to hit her mother in the stomach and time turned back to normal speed. Everything Evelyn used to think, used to see, used to feel, shattered in that one moment when she saw what evil men could do.

Ben stood back, took one second to see the horribly painful reaction of Kate's daughter, and realized that following orders wasn't what he should have done. Ben turned around and realized there was no way he could salvage his once honorable self. He held the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, managing to even shock Sawyer to his core.

"Stop the train," Sawyer ordered a wide eyed Juliet and she followed the order. The train screeched to a halt, but no one moved. Juliet came back.

"Let's go," Sawyer told Juliet. He pulled Aaron off of the train while Juliet repeated the action with a frozen Evelyn.

Once they left, Jack ran to Kate's side. She was still breathing, but that didn't stop his hands from shaking as he tried to stop her bleeding.

"Charlie, I need you to..." Jack turned to look at Charlie, but he wasn't there. "Where is he?" Jack asked Claire.

"I don't know, he was here and then he wasn't," Claire explained, her eyes falling back to a dying Kate.

"I need you to take Ben's shirt and press onto her stomach," Jack told Claire but she remained in a trance, "Claire! Now!" Claire snapped out of it and tore the shirt off of Ben. She rushed back to Jack and applied as much pressure as she possibly could. Jack counted to five before going back to Ben's corpse. He searched for a phone but it was in vain. Jack ran back to Kate and picked her up, holding her shallowly breathing body in his arms.

"We have to go to the hospital," Jack said and Claire agreed. They got out of the train and found their way back to the road. Claire looked at Kate's still bleeding wound and thought about how such a tiny thing, like a bullet, could do so much damage. Jack had to lay Kate on the side of the road while Claire kept the shirt pressed to Kate's stomach. Cars passed by and Jack did all he could to stop them. Only one, out of the fifty that passed, stopped. The driver stepped out of the car and ran to their side.

"What happened?" The Good Samaritan asked.

"She was shot, we need to get to the hospital!" Jack shouted, his anguish causing his words to quiver and die away in a whisper. The driver helped Kate into the car while Jack held her close in the backseat. Claire piled into the passenger seat while the driver drove with an incredible speed that let Jack know this man genuinely cared, despite having never met the occupants of his car.

They reached the nearest hospital in record speed. Kate was rushed into surgery while Jack was forced to wait with Claire and The Good Samaritan.

While they waited, Charlie was tracking down Sawyer and Juliet. He gripped the gun Ben had dropped after his suicide and walked through the woods. Despite having never killed for a job, Charlie had the skills necessary for that life. He was able to track and he was able to kill, he simply never had a reason to employ those skills, until now.

He checked the broken twigs, the off set leaves, and it didn't take him long to hear Sawyer's voice carry through the woods. The sun was out, but still Charlie couldn't see the man who he intended to kill. He followed the sound of Sawyer's laugh and found the lake, where Sawyer was washing his hands and Juliet stood with Aaron and Evelyn.

Evelyn was anything but alright and Aaron, he was about ready to take Juliet's gun and kill Sawyer himself. He thought for a moment and realized that at this point, he had nothing to lose and even his own life didn't matter. He turned around quickly and punched Juliet with all the force he could manage. The crack of Juliet's nose breaking was enough to satisfy his vengeance on her. He ran towards Sawyer, who hadn't turned around at the sound of the commotion.

Sawyer was quicker than Aaron and once Aaron lunged at him, he gripped the boy's throat and pushed him into the water, choking and drowning the teenager. Evelyn hadn't moved and in her world, she hadn't even registered what was happening.

Charlie sprang into action at that moment. Aaron gasped for air under the depths of the shallow lake, he heard a muffled bang and in a second, Sawyer fell into the water beside him. Blood mixed with the water and created a murky but deep red beside Sawyer's body. Aaron pulled himself out of the water and coughed up what had gotten into his lungs. His chest hurt but he was still alive and still breathing, it was enough for him.

Charlie ran over to his son and hugged him with enough force that Aaron was struggling for air again. Charlie realized the pain he was causing and pulled away quickly, while Aaron took a few deep breaths.

"The water should dissipate in a day or two," Charlie informed and Aaron smiled. "Where's Evelyn?" Charlie asked after looking back to where Evelyn had been standing and finding no one but Juliet on the ground.

Aaron croaked through his bruised throat, "I don't know."

They walked through the woods, Charlie tracking Evelyn's movements while Aaron followed, keeping his eyes peeled for his friend.

Evelyn was sitting on a fallen tree in the middle of the woods, sobbing into the sweatshirt that she had borrowed from Aaron. Her sobs caused her entire body to shake as she thought of her dead or dying mother. The sound of the gun shot resounded in her head over and over again on repeat followed by Sawyer's laugh.

Her throat began to hurt as her anguish continued to cause her tears to fall. She pulled her legs close to her body and tried to stifle her sobs, but failed miserably. She heard the sound of people approaching and turned around to see Aaron and Charlie.

She quickly turned her back to them and heard the shuffling of movement and the crunching of dried leaves under feet. Aaron sat beside her on the fallen tree and put his arm around her as new sobs wracked her body and she cried into his shoulder.

"We have to go and find your p...parents," Charlie said quietly, struggling with the plural word that may not be plural any more. Aaron helped Evelyn off of the tree and held her hand all the way back to the train as they followed his father. Charlie checked the train and found no one inside, just the stain of blood from Kate and Ben's corpse that was slowly beginning to decompose.

Charlie emerged from the train with fresh confusion in his mind. The trio walked to a gas station that was a few miles down the highway. Charlie called information and got a hold of the only hospital in the county, that certainly made it easier to track Jack down. Charlie described Jack to the woman who answered the phone and she handed the phone over to him.

"Hello," Jack's anguished voice answered.

"Jack, I got them back," Charlie told him quietly.

"Charlie?" Jack asked, unable to believe his own ears.

"Yes, it's me, I rescued Aaron and Evelyn." Charlie looked over where Aaron and Evelyn sat on a bench a few feet away.

"What about Sawyer?" Jack asked looking over at Claire who had looked up at the mention of Charlie.

"He's not going to be a problem anymore. How's Kate?" Charlie asked the question quietly, he didn't want to depress Evelyn any more than she was already.

"I don't know, they haven't told me anything yet. I'm still waiting for something." Jack ran a hand over his hair.

"We'll be there soon, don't worry, we'll be there soon," Charlie said before he hung up the phone. "Let's go," Charlie said calling to Aaron and Evelyn.

Jack sat back in the seat he had occupied for the past hour and a half. The man who had driven them to the hospital was waiting along side him while Claire stood up to go find some coffee.

"I'm sorry, I have to go," The man said quietly, standing up.

"I understand, actually I'm amazed that you stayed. Thank you, I'm sorry I didn't get your name," Jack said as he shook hands with The Good Samaritan.

"Sayid," The man introduced himself.

"Thank you Sayid, for everything," Jack said gratefully as he stopped shaking hands with the man who had helped him.

"I assure you it was no problem at all. If I was on the side of the road, I would have wanted someone to stop for me. Goodbye Jack and good luck," Sayid said before he walked out of the waiting room while Aaron, Charlie, and Evelyn walked in.

Jack walked over to Evelyn and hugged her tightly. Evelyn shut her eyes, worried that she would begin crying again. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stayed strong, for her father's sake. Claire walked back into the waiting room carrying a half empty Styrofoam cup. She saw Aaron and Charlie in the waiting room and dropped it on the floor before she ran over to them. She hugged Aaron first before kissing Charlie so hard, they almost fell to the ground.

Evelyn felt a little happier knowing Aaron's family was going to be alright, as did Jack. Time began to pass slowly as everyone in various intervals cleaned themselves up in the bathroom.

Evelyn found her way to a chair away from everyone else. She pulled her knees close to her chest and watched the clock located on the opposite wall. The second hand ticked in a rhythm similar to her own pulse and as the hours passed, time began to move more slowly.

_ Looking for something I've never seen  
Alone and I'm in between_

Claire continuously went to get coffee, caffeine was, ironically, the only thing keeping her calm. Jack paced, changed his seat, and spoke one to two words every hour. Aaron was asleep beside his father who was quietly sitting in his chair. Evelyn said nothing and after two hours of waiting she left the waiting room, no one noticed her leave.

She followed the hallway and looked into various rooms. She passed a surgical intern who stopped her.

_ The place that I'm from and  
The place that I'm in _

"Where do you think you're going?" The intern asked, he was a young man around twenty-five.

Evelyn didn't answer she just waved her hand to indicate she had no idea. He looked at the hand she was waving and saw the threaded stitches.

He grabbed her hand and examined the stitches. "How did you get this?" Evelyn didn't answer, so he asked another question, "Did you do this yourself?" Evelyn didn't answer. "You better come with me," He said and she followed him into an exam room.

"I'm Dr. Lloyd but you can just call me Walt," The intern introduced after they were in the exam room. Evelyn sat on the exam bed and Walt placed her hand on a bedside table. He examined her stitches and left for a minute, returning with supplies. He injected an anesthetic into her bloodstream to numb her hand. He took out the threaded stitches and began to sew new ones in after he cleaned the wound.

_ A city I never been _

"So do you want to tell me your name?" Walt asked as he sutured her wound.

"Evelyn," She said quietly.

"What are you doing in the hospital, Evelyn?" He asked as he looked up at her.

"My mom is in surgery right now," Evelyn said, her voice wavering with a lump in her throat.

"That's rough, I remember when I had to wait while my mom was in surgery. I remember looking at the clock and thinking an hour had gone by when it had only been two minutes and I'll never forget my dad, he couldn't really handle pressure. I'll never forget that day though, it was terrible, the waiting," Walt shared as he finished suturing Evelyn's wound.

"What did you do about it?" Evelyn asked, recognizing the similarities in the situations despite how different they really were.

"There was a church in the hospital, you know where families go to pray and sometimes doctors too. I stayed in there for a little while, you know, just to think and to really get away from the agony of the waiting room." He placed gauze on Evelyn's hand and wrapped her fresh stitches.

"Did it help?" Evelyn asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, it helped me a lot." He recalled the memory easily and even as sadness held onto his heart, he was able to share his experience.

Evelyn left the exam room directly after Walt let her go. He had told her to go back to the waiting room but she was going to find the hospital's church. Every hospital had one or at least, they should have had one.

_ I found a friend or should I say a foe  
Said there's a few things you should know _

Evelyn found the chapel and walked down the aisle, staring at the cross on the wall. She sat in one of the seats and stared at it. She knelt onto the floor and held her hands together.

She looked at the cross and began to pray for the first time in her life, "God, I'm not even sure if you're there or if you're listening, but I  
just need to say this, I need to ask this."

_ We don't want you to see_

A memory of her mother reading her her favorite book surfaced and Evelyn continued.

"Please don't let my mother die, I know I've been terrible to her and she lied to me, but that doesn't matter anymore, because she can't die, not now, not like this."

_ We come and we go_

Evelyn remembered a time when her mother had surprised her with a teddy bear when she was five. Then she remembered a similar situation not too long ago when instead of a teddy bear, her mother had brought home a new CD she had been aching to buy.

"I mean, I didn't even get a chance to tell her I forgive her, and that's the truth, I'm not angry anymore, I'm just glad to be back. I want to go home, I want to have a family and if that's selfish I'm sorry. I have gone so long without a father, please don't take my mother from me now, not when I finally have an entire family."

_ Here today, gone tomorrow._

Evelyn remembered times when her mother would tuck her into bed at night. Even at fourteen, Evelyn liked when her mother checked on her at night and said goodnight in that special "mother way".

"If you brought us all together, how can you just tear us apart? That doesn't seem fair. I'm sorry if I've been doubtful or I haven't spoken to you as much as I should have, but I'm here now. That has to count for something, right? Just please, let everything be okay, please." Evelyn broke by the time she uttered the last sentence, a dry sob wracked her body before her eyes welled.

_ We're only taking turns  
Holding this world  
It's how it's always been  
When you're older you will understand._

Her tears fell and she remained kneeling on the floor while she cried. She made the sign of the cross and stood. She walked back up the aisle and wiped the last of her tears away, feeling as if a weight had been lifted.

She returned to the waiting room where everyone was seated, except her father, he was nowhere to be found, as was Aaron.

"Where's my dad?" Evelyn asked Claire.

"He's in the recovery room with your mother. The doctor came out a few minutes ago, he couldn't find you so he went in. I sent Aaron to find you." Claire had stood up once Evelyn entered the room and a few seconds after Claire had told her all of this, Aaron walked in.

"Mum, I couldn't find..." He noticed Evelyn, "...there you are."

"Can I go see her?" Evelyn asked, anxious to hug her mother and talk to her.

_ If I say who I know it just goes to show  
You need me less than I need you_

"You have to talk to the nurse, but I don't see any reason why you can't," Claire said while Evelyn nodded and walked away.

Evelyn walked out of the waiting room and to the nurses station, where one nurse then led her to her mother's room.

_ Take it from me  
We don't give sympathy _

"She's going to be a bit drowsy and she may not be fully, you know, there," The nurse explained, Evelyn nodded in understanding.

"But she's alright?" Evelyn asked, wanting to confirm the best news she had ever heard.

"Yes, she'll be fine, she just needs to recover." The nurse smiled and Evelyn nodded before walking into the hospital room.

_ You can trust me  
Trust nobody  
But I said you and me  
We don't have honesty_

Evelyn saw her mother laying on the recovery bed, her eyes shut. The IV drip was still in her arm and she had oxygen helping her breathe. The covers were pulled up to cover the gauze wrapped around her stomach. She was pale and for a second, Evelyn thought she had died, but then she saw the steady rise and fall of her mother's chest and she listened to the steady beep of the heart monitor. Evelyn felt relieved as she walked further into the room, trying to stay as quiet as possible.

Her father looked up at her and he smiled. "I tried to find you..."

"I had to do something," Evelyn told him quietly and he nodded, never asking what she had to do, it was personal and he knew it.

_ The things we don't want to speak_

Kate stirred in the bed and opened her eyes to look at Evelyn.

"Hey," Evelyn greeted quietly walking towards the bed.

"Hey," Kate greeted in a hoarse and tired voice.

Evelyn almost began crying the moment her mother spoke, but she managed to stop herself before the lump in her throat overpowered her.

_ I'll try to get out but I never will _

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked and Kate turned to look at him. She smiled when she saw how his hand was resting over hers.

"I've been better," Kate joked in the same hoarse voice. Evelyn smiled for a moment until the tears began to fill her eyes.

_ Traffic is perfectly still_

She placed a hand over her mouth to stifle the sob which caused her mother and her father to look at her.

"I'm sorry, just ignore me," Evelyn choked out through her sobs.

"Come here," Kate said, sitting up despite her pain.

Evelyn walked quickly over to where her mother was sitting up and she sat down on the bed. Kate put her arms around Evelyn, who in turn, cried onto her mother's shoulder.

_ We're only taking turns  
Holding this world  
It's how it's always been  
When you're older you will understand_

An hour later, Evelyn was asleep on the bed located beside her mother's. Jack hadn't let go of Kate's hand, and she wasn't about to tell him to let go.

"So now that everything is over, what are we going to do now?" Jack asked quietly trying not to wake Evelyn.

"You can come home with us," Kate suggested, "Or, we could go home with you."

"Do you think Evelyn would like L.A.?" Jack asked, knowing his apartment would be big enough for all of them.

"Well she hates where we live now, and the house was kind of destroyed, so probably," Kate said, smiling.

"Then that's where we'll go." Jack smiled.

They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds in comfortable silence. Jack leaned forward kissing Kate for the first time in years but feeling as if he had done it everyday. He pulled back and Kate smiled, feeling much better despite the gun shot wound.

"We're going to be okay, right?" Kate asked, worried about the future.

"Yeah, we're going to be just fine," Jack told her with a smile.

An hour later, they were both asleep but Evelyn had woken up. She left the room and walked back out to the waiting room. She had left the sweatshirt Aaron had lent her a week before on the bed she had been sleeping in. She was wearing the shirt he had given her and while it smelled like dirt and sweat, she didn't mind. It was much cleaner than the sweatshirt.

Charlie and Claire were sleeping in two of the chairs while Aaron was reading a magazine, or rather, trying to read it.

_ And then again maybe you don't_

"_Cosmo_?" Evelyn asked in a light voice that caused Aaron to look up.

"I learned that I'm a Summer and I look best in blue," Aaron joked and Evelyn laughed.

"Very nice, the blue would bring out your eyes," Evelyn joked as she sat down beside him.

_ And then again maybe you won't_

"How's your mum?" Aaron asked as he shut the magazine.

"She's going to be fine, she just needs a few days to recover but it could be worse," Evelyn said quietly.

"Did the police ask about the shooting?" Aaron asked, worried they were going to have to run again.

"They haven't shown up yet, but when they do, I don't know what's going to happen. I mean what are they going to say, hey you know my kid was kidnapped so we..." She was cut off when Aaron placed his lips on hers.

The kiss lasted a few seconds and Evelyn was the one to pull away.

"What the hell was that?" She asked, her voice higher and more nervous.

"Sorry, I just..." Aaron really had no explanation for the act.

"You what? Thought, hey this was a stressful day maybe I can cash in on it?" Evelyn asked, her voice still high.

"No, I don't really know why I did it. I mean I know why, just not _why_." Aaron shrugged.

"That makes no sense," Evelyn said as she stared at him.

_ We're only taking turns  
Holding this world  
It's how it's always been  
When you're older you will understand_

"Yeah, but it's the best I could..." Aaron was the one who was cut off this time when Evelyn kissed him. She pulled away and sat back in her seat and Aaron did the same thing. "Okay, what was that?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to do it," Evelyn explained, confusing him and herself.

"Do you still want to? Because I kind of do," Aaron said while he fidgeted with his hands.

"Yeah, I do, but I don't want to kiss you in a hospital again, it's weird," Evelyn said quietly.

"Yeah it is kind of creepy. Do you want to go out some time or something?" Aaron asked looking at the floor.

_ When you're older  
You might understand._

"Like on a date?" Evelyn asked trying to hide the smile that was beginning to form.

"Yeah, I mean, I like you, so, I want to date you and you know, kiss you, and stuff," Aaron said looking away and feeling stupid for his way with words.

"Well, I like you too, so yes, I'll go on a date with you," Evelyn agreed with a smile and Aaron smiled too.

"Great." Aaron looked forward, as did Evelyn while they quietly stole glances at each other.

"I should probably, get back," Evelyn said awkwardly as she stood up from her chair.

"Yeah, I understand," Aaron said quietly, "Don't worry, I have _Cosmo_ to keep me company," he joked.

"Great, I wouldn't want to leave you all alone." Evelyn walked back into the door to the hallway. She winced in a minor amount of pain before laughing it off and walking through the door. She was nervous and she didn't know why, she had never been that way.

_ When you're older  
You might understand._

She walked back into the hospital to gaze upon her family as she wore a smile. Her mother was awake, but her father was still asleep.

"What's up with you?" Kate asked, noticing the changed demeanor.

"What? Nothing, everything is...just...right," Evelyn said before sitting back on the bed she had slept in before.

Everything was just right, and even though Evelyn would never admit it aloud, she was glad her mother had lied to her.

_Maybe we're not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy. Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes to simply be human. Maybe, we're thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we're thankful for the things we'll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate. (Grey's Anatomy)_

_**The End  
**_

* * *

Thank you so much to all those that read this! It was just something I thought of one day and couldn't get out of my head, I really hope this ending was right for the story and that you enjoyed it. Again, thank you so much for reading! 

_**Trust Me by The Fray**__  
_


End file.
